Outdoor Afro

It's Good to Know Your Neighbors

Our family recently moved into a lovely place back in my familiar, and dynamic hometown of Oakland, California. For the previous six years we resided in a nearby small and sheltered community known for its excellent schools, low crime, and civic pride. There, my children roamed free outdoors, and visited neighbors – sometimes well into the evening after dark.

After several weeks of searching, a house found us in Maxwell Park, a well established and diverse urban neighborhood.  But after moving in, I soon noticed the absence of children playing outside, imagining that the children who once roamed this neighborhood in days past, now likely had children of their own, rooted in a distant suburb. Our street today, framed by tidy yards tended by retirees, appeared safe enough, but my children expressed their uneasiness about being outside in their new surroundings.
“There is no one outside,” they lamented; and after tossing a ball back and forth among themselves for a short while, would stumble back up the stairs into the house, searching for a screen for diversion. Admittedly, I was weary too. Since I did not know anyone around me, I lacked my usual confidence in letting my kids be their typical free-range selves. I missed my old neighborhood.
Then I had an idea.
I decided to organize our own welcome wagon to meet our community - so my children and I put together this simple flyer below for a Friday meet-and-greet on our front porch.

The prior Monday evening, my daughter and I walked and knocked from door to door a half-dozen houses in either direction of our home. At first, it did feel a little awkward, but without exception people opened their doors to greet us warmly giving way to a feeling of confidence and purpose. For those not home, we conspicuously wedged a flyer between door cracks, railings, and in mailboxes.
Our micro-pilgrimage revealed even more diversity than we imagined. In addition to our meticulous garden tending seniors, we met tech entrepreneurs, a bakery owner with a chicken coop, a school district administrator, a horticulturalist, and many, many dog lovers. But we also made another discovery: children.
My fellow parents were relieved to know another family with children had moved in the ‘hood, and their kids pressed around them into doorways eager to meet a potential new friend.
The evening of our gathering, our first guest said to me with caution, “this neighborhood is kind of particular,” perhaps in an effort to prepare me for a low turnout. Yet soon after our 6:00 PM start, doors opened, and nearly every neighbor we met, and some we had not, mounted our stairs to join us on our porch for a cold drink and a snack.

What I thought was a chance for neighbors to get to know our family was much richer, as some neighbors, living nearby one another for a while, had never met in person! So for about an hour, we swapped safety tips, family histories, and almost all reassured, “if you ever need anything, just come over.” That evening, our family became a part of a neighborhood.
Before leaving, my previously skeptical neighbor expressed amazement, and said, “In all the years I have lived here, this has never happened – you did a good thing.” It sure felt like it.


Getting to know our neighbors has transformed our experience in our new place for the better. For instance, neighborly greetings are more warm and genuine, with enthusiastic waves from passing cars, or a lingering “hello, how are you?”  As for my children, they now feel more confident about getting outside, and do so more easily. They have since reached out to neighbors to borrow things such as scotch tape, and even freshly laid eggs on a Sunday morning.

What a difference it can make to know your neighbors as part of a healthier and happier community, and to help parents and children confidently connect with their local outdoors.
Do you know your neighbors? 

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by Outdoor Afro

Primary Class Studying Plants: Whittier School

Celebrate our historical connections to nature with this photo from Frances Benjamin Johnston (American, 1864–1952)
1899-1900. Platinum print, 7 1/2 x 9 9/16" (19 x 24.3 cm). Gift of Lincoln Kirstein to the MOMA

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by Outdoor Afro

Our Point Pinole Hike Was Dynamite!

Guest Blog Submission and photos by Outdoor Afro Leader, Cliff Sorrell of a recent trip lead in the San Francisco Bay Area. 
Outdoor Afros recently took on Point Pinole Regional Shoreline in Richmond, CA – it was such a great time! About thirty-five people of all ages and from all over the Bay Area came together to hike, learn the history of Point Pinole, and identify local birds with the help of Golden Gate Audubon volunteer docents.

The hike was approximately 4 miles in length with some gentle slopes. The trail had great views of the inner Bay Area along the shoreline. Along the trail, I was able to point out the different biomes: a vernal pool, salt water marsh, and Oak tree savannah, and share how each biome contains their unique plants and wild life that create their own food chain.
But the history of Point Pinole is very intriguing with regards to its previous land use. Point Pinole is the final home of Giant Powder Company. All along the hiking trails in several locations, were ruins of dynamite bomb shelters and sites of explosives testing.

The most interesting fact is that the Giant Powder Company was founded by Alfred Nobel; the father of the Nobel Peace Prize Foundation. Alfred was determined to stabilize and commodify the use of the dynamite stick, and many died in this effort. He, too, died December 10, 1896, following a severe stroke.  Not to be remembered as someone who profited from the development of violent tools capable of death and injury, Alfred left a will with instructions after his death to create an award to recognize new ingenuity for the benefit of mankind - the Nobel Peace Prize.  Learn more about Point Pinole by clicking here.
Looking forward to our next Outdoor Afro adventure! Thanks to Golden Gate Audubon and Toyota Audubon Together Green for your support of our adventures!

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by Outdoor Afro

Outdoor Afro Celebrates its Youth Leadership!

By special invitation, the Maryland Coastal Bays Program and Coastal Stewards participated in Estuary Education Day at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. on September 27, 2012 in celebration of National Estuaries Day and the 25th Anniversary of the National Estuary Program.

Pictured left to right, U.S. EPA Director of Oceans and Coastal Protections Division Paul Cough with Coastal Steward & Outdoor Afro Youth Leader Tashonna Grant, an 11th grade student at Stephen Decatur High School, who shared information about her local Assateague National Seashore. Way to go Tashonna!

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by Outdoor Afro

Environmentalism: Nothing New for African-Americans

Submitted by Morgan Powell, a landscape designer, who edits Bronx River Sankofa on You Tube and Facebook.  He is passionate about New York’s Bronx River and its African American heritage. Here is his third submission in a series to highlight the generous yet delicate resource of the Bronx River and African American engagement with our environment as a whole.

This blog will address four decades in the life of a ghetto park's stages of development. We'll recognize some of the local leadership whose initiative was founded by a white Catholic activist in 1974. Today, a riverfront park is being rebuilt as a monument to over three decades of stewardship, civic accomplishment and vision that grew from those efforts: West Farms Rapids park along the Bronx River Greenway.
Africans are known to have been taken in as community members by Native Americans throughout the age of North American colonization by Europe. I believe this came out of a mutuality of consciousness -- two traditional cultures creating family for survival.

West Farms Rapids (2 Acres)
The West Farms Community is one of many historic settlements along the Bronx River, which is the only freshwater river in New York City. Measuring 23 miles, this blue corridor has been central to the life of the Bronx since pre-colonial days. It winds its way from the heights of Westchester County to meet the East River at Hunt's Point. Called Aquehung (River of High Bluffs) by the Mohegan Indians who fished and hunted along its banks, the Bronx River derives its name from Jonas Bronck (1600-1643), a Swedish sea captain who settled 500 acres of the mainland in 1639 as the Bronx's first European resident.
While his land extended to the Bronx River, his home overlaid by today's neighborhood of Port Morris, was closer to where the East River bends toward its path to the Long Island Sound. The attraction of beaver fur brought European traders in the early 1600s at a time when Africans were know to accompany some trappers in the region. Soon, the Dutch followed by greater numbers of English settlers arrived.

Mills began to sprout up along "Bronck's River." By the mid-1800s as many as 11 mills were processing paper, flour, pottery, cotton, rugs, barrels, lumber, grains (wheat, millet, corn & barley), gun powder and tobacco, powered by the stream. More than a small share of those raw materials (e.g. cotton and tobacco) were harvested by African-Americans as near as Connecticut and as far away as Louisiana working in bondage and freedom.
The Bronx River Valley's economy grew through the 1600s and 1700s. Farming and cottage industries developed and flourished until the Revolutionary War, when the river became a shifting battle line between American Patriots and British Loyalists. The De Lancey family estate, now part of the Bronx Zoo, is well documented as a site of 18th century tensions. American troops gained control of the area when British Loyalists evacuated in 1783.

During the era between the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 and again in the 1840s during the construction of the New York & Harlem Railroad, factories sprang up along the Bronx River shores, which harnessed the current to power manufacturing. At one time, at least 11 mills stood between North Castle and West Farms. The Bolton Bleachery for cotton and wool textiles operated for many decades on the same site where the Lorraine Hansberry Academy is now situated at the intersection of Boston Road and East Tremont Avenue.
These industries brought both prosperity and pollution as they dumped their refuse into the waterfront. In 1896, a report by the New York State Legislature stated that the river had become an "open sewer" and appointed a commission to remedy the problem. After intensive study, the commission recommended that the city purchase the land alongside this waterway and transform it from an unregulated zone of farms, slums and factories into a landscaped nature preserve. America's first parkway was thus born, allowing the city and state to control activity along the river and providing motorists, bicyclists and strollers with a pleasant venue for recreation and scenic trips.

The Bronx River Parkway (opened in stages from 1916-1925) protected the watershed as it entered Bronx Park as envisioned by major advocates of it from the Bronx Zoo. However, the Bronx River did not receive dedicated ecological rehabilitation south of East 180th Street until 1974, when Ruth Anderberg founded the Bronx River Restoration Project (BXRR) on the inspiration of then Bronx Police Chief Anthony V. Bouza, who had already launched an intergovernmental dialogue to clean the river. West Farms Rapids (formerly Bronx River Park, originally Restoration Park) marks the genesis of those efforts. The rock-stuffed rubber-tire retaining wall most prominent on the east bank is a landmark commemorating 1980, when this place was officially opened as a park. Around this time, BXRR also created what's now called the Bronx River Art Center (BRAC) nearby and River Garden, and published the Bronx River Restoration Master Plan. This plan advocated the ecological revival of the whole river complete with a continuous linear park from the Kensico Dam to its mouth at the East River.

Many hands contributed to these early efforts, including teen-aged and adult workers and community leaders from Lambert Houses, like BXRR treasurer Marcel Woolery, Jr. Meanwhile, independent efforts to rehabilitate the surrounding community and expand green spaces were accelerating under the leadership of MBD Housing with black icons like Genevieve Brooks and E. J. Mitchell.
BXRR's efforts were funded by city programs like Summer Youth Employment. Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), local elected officials, Phipps Houses, and other organizations dedicated resources for construction, programming and maintenance. In the 1990s, local residents and workers formed a new coalition to revive this site. Called the West Farms Friends of the Bronx River, members included Michelle Williams, Bernard Tim Johnson, Nessie Panton (still active at River Garden), Andre Williams, Juanita Carter (honored with a street sign), Perquida Williams, Sebert Harper (currently a New York City Housing authority tenant gardening consultant) and others.
They organized riverfront clean-ups, planted the park's original butterfly garden and worked with the Parks Department to install picnic tables for family recreation. In 1997, HPD gave the city jurisdiction over this park and by 2008 the Parks Department owned it. Also in 1997, Partnerships for Parks convened the Bronx River Working Group, comprised of 20 founding partners, including Phipps Community Development Corporation, BXRR and the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality. This collaboration culminated in 2001 with the creation of the Bronx River Alliance.

In 2000, the Transportation Equity Act allocated $770,800 to renovate the park. This mid-Bronx node of the Bronx River Greenway broke ground in 2008 to improve safety and enhance multi-modal access, featuring a canoe launch, a new butterfly garden, an amphitheater and direct access to East Tremont Avenue where Bronx Street was absorbed into this park and demapped. The Department of Parks and Recreation of the City of New York, the Bronx River Alliance and community partners continue to maintain this remarkably beautiful and historic site.
Find this park on a map!

More about the author – Morgan Powell is editor and founder of Bronx River Sankofa on You Tube and Facebook. His initiative is part of a local movement to recognize four decades of African American environmentalists & over 350 years of Bronx social history including Afro ethno - botany in the Bronx River watershed. Over 525 folks have attended live presentations of his. Bronx River Sankofa is an independent project of the Bronx African American History Project of Fordham University in partnership with the Bronx County Historical Society.

 

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by Outdoor Afro

Day Tripping: What You Can Discover on the Bronx River and Beyond!

Morgan Powell is  a landscape designer who edits Bronx River Sankofa on You Tube and Facebook.  He is passionate about New York's Bronx River and its African American heritage. Here is Morgan's second submission in a three-part series to highlight the generous yet delicate resource of the Bronx River:
I've just  taken my fellow Whole Communities alumni Audrey and Frank Peterman's  challenge to enjoy my local natural treasures.  The Petermans wrote the Outdoor Afro classic Legacy on the Land.  I saw a vast natural place outside of my normal travel patterns both arresting in beauty and historic that has taken me over a decade to visit from the time I first learned of it.  If you live in a big city or suburb of one, there are bound to be places like this near you too!  Here's my story.

You are about to re - live my path to discovery of a wonderfully designed walking/ biking path in Westchester, NY from the Metro-North commuter train station of Hartsdale to the august Kensico Dam in Valhalla, NY.  For those who wish to explore these riverfront paths on their own, I am including a second section at the very end of this blog for the other long Bronx River Path beginning in suburban Bronxville, NY and concluding in the village of Scarsdale with a rest break at Crestwood, NY (4.6 miles).   First, however, I'm going to summarize my route to this journey.  Are you ready?
Helping to rehabilitate paths and the ecological vitality of New York City's only fresh water river has been a joyous pass-time of mine since 1993 shortly after I graduated from high school in the Bronx, New York.  A group on which our federal AmeriCorps and Vista are modeled for young adult public service got me into the game.  Our group was called the City Volunteer Corps and all that's left today is an alumni group on facebook...along with this reminiscence.

Like many working class minority individuals growing up in an urban area that had only recently seen white flight, I lacked many social connections to my local civic fabric because so many of the pillars of the community were packing up and leaving throughout my teens without connecting with/ grooming successors among the incoming Latino/ African-American/ Asian population.  I got involved with park stewardship despite that and this is how it happened!

Like AmeriCorps, the City Volunteer Corps was devoted largely to human service and open space maintenance and development.  My peers and I learned and grew in our service.  I even discovered that a waterway in my backyard - majestic as it rolled through the New York Botanical Garden and Bronx Zoo - was being cared for in ways I had never known.

My team members and I once spent two weeks doing maintenance chores along that Bronx River; it validated my neighborhood for me to know that folks had been quietly stewarding this local geologic and watery gem with all its gorges and overflow basins, through water quality tests, park development and more.
Almost a decade passed where my attention had turned to college and making a living until the New York Times published a long illustrated story featuring almost three decades of Bronx River stewardship beginning shortly after Earth Day's inauguration.  Oh, how I red "A River Rises" on December 3, 2000 with wrapped attention!  I would later discover on my own that a number of African Americans had each dedicated many years to the effort including Marcel Woolery Sr. and Jr. (seasonal foreman and treasurer), Jessie Collins (former Bronx River Art Center chairwoman currently leading the Friends of Haffen Park, Bronx),

Charles Vasser (Bronx Council for Environmental Quality board member and a founder of the Bronx River Alliance), David Shuffler (Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice Executive Director), Diane Sargent (Chairperson of the Bronx Greenway Committee and Plan), Nessie Panton (River [community] Garden advocate) and Majora Carter (whom I am shown below with) to name a few.

My research since then can be found as interviews, essays and digital tour guides on YouTube and Facebook with a search for "Bronx River Sankofa."  The word Sankofa comes from the Akan language of Ghana that translates in English to "go back and get it." Many groups of African descent use this word and symbol to describe the journey of drawing strength and wisdom from the past in order to move forward.   Enjoy!
I'll never stop marveling at one thing that stands out from over a decade re-united with other river stewards within city limits.  The only African - Americans I EVER met who seemed to know the suburban sections of our river and its trails seemed to have come to such knowledge through paid work.  I'm just saying, aren't folks curious?  We walk/ bike/ canoe/ clean it for miles within city limits and all know it starts in Westchester to the north as we see it flow to us in the south.  And there actually have been hundreds of local volunteers over the years so why the disconnect and what have we been missing?  The first part of that question would require interviews.  The question's end was easy to answer with a commuter train trip that began just ten minutes walk from my apartment.  I can say without hyperbole that it was a journey in jubilance and may be even more so during fall foliage show time.  Discover the Bronx river trails in the related links section below.  Would you like musical accompaniment?  Try anything from the Terence Blanchard Quintet!  Here's the fast version of this spectacular five-mile walk to the Kensico Dam which was built above the springs that becomes the Bronx River.  That's right, over 5 % of NYC drinking water is of Bronx River origin.
Travel log:

- arrived at Hartsdale Station in time for the farmers market there (June to November Saturdays 8a.m. to 3p.m.)
- see blog post end for dining options  surrounding the Hartsdale Station
- entered the trail less than thirty yards from the train station just over a small stone bridge to the east
- encountered the relatively new cell phone audio tour guide's Stop no.14: Duckpond/ Haubolt Gunpowder Mill and kept in mind that an existing mill building from 1805 stands down river in Tuckahoe that processed cotton in pre - Civil War days
- enjoyed the natural Gothic arches of the woodland trail

- found pleasant apertures offering views of local neighborhoods along the walk
- enjoyed Revolutionary War Battle Hill monument at White Plains
- appreciated the opportunity to break for a snack and rest in downtown White Plains
- was humbled by the simple beauty of a rustic fence and stone framing of a path
- loved every original Bronx River Parkway stone bridge along the way from the 1910s and 1920s
- found great satisfaction in arriving at the Kensico Dam
- learned so much by reading commemorative carvings atop the dam wall from 1925 including:
"He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the frost like ashes"
"He covereth the heavens with clouds: he prepareth rain for the earth"
"He causeth his wind to blow and the waters to flow"
"He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains."

"This work was planned in 1897 and begun June 9, 1905 with the appointment of the commissioners of the Board of Water Supply exactly four months thereafter October 9, 1905.  A map plan and estimate of cost of a complete project calling for the delivery of 500 million gallons of water daily from the Catskill Mountains was made to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.  Sod was turned for the first contract on June 20, 1907 and on December 27, 1915 the first delivery of water was made from the Ashokan Reservoir to the City of New York."
You can learn more about the Bronx River Walk at www.FRIENDSOFWESTCHESTERPARKS.com where you may also download their tour to an iPod.  Now it's time for your adventure.  What new adventures do you want to take?

Related links:
Discover Audrey and Frank Peterman's work here!
Explore more NYC Bronx African American history here!
Find Bronx, NY trails at www.bronxriver.org
Let Terence Blanchard provide your soundtrack for this walk/ bike along the Bronx River.
Learn more here about the Kensico Dam!

Dining just outside the Hartsdale train station (zip code 10530)
Juice and Java
201 East Hartsdale Avenue  914 - 472 - 6916
Vega Mexican Cuisine
187 - 189 Hartsdale Avenue  914 - 723 - 0010
Masala Kraft Cafe (Asian Indian)
206 E. Hartsdale Avenue  914-722-4300
Amendola's Pizza Tratoria
203 E. Hartsdale Avenue  914-722-2666
BosphoRus; Healthy Turkish Mediterranean Restaurant
213 - 215 East Hartsdale Avenue  914 - 722 - 2000
Hunan Village II (Traditional Chinese Restaurant)
222 East Hartsdale Avenue  914 - 472 - 3838
Azuma - Sushi (Japanese)
219 E. Hartsdale Avenue  914 - 725 - 0660
B & M Bagels and More: New york Bakery and Deli
224 East Hartsdale Avenue  914 - 722 - 4444

Tour Section II: Bronxville to Scarsdale, NY (4.6 miles)
Both of these communities have commuter rail stations with parking available via Metro-North Railroad.
Want to stock up on travel snacks and water or have a light meal/ snack?  Here are some options very near the Bronxville train station:
Brother's Fruit and Vegetable  38 Palmer Ave.   914-337-7003
Lange's Delicatessen  94 Pondfield Road  914-337-DELI (3354)
Swizzles Frozen Yogurt  102 Kraft Avenue  914-793-1100
The Paths you walk/bike/roller blade here are part of the Bronx River Parkway Reservation established to maintain the multi - modal Bronx River Parkway completed in City Beautiful style back in 1925.  The civic boosters of the day were as concerned with design quality and the harmony of the project with the surrounding residential fabric as they were with getting the public around in newly popular automobiles.  For context, not many people had cars then and driving was as likely to be a weekend pass-time as conventional sports are today among the upper crust.  The speed limit was below 40 miles per hour and large tracts of lawn, winding walking paths, picturesque ponds and custom designed stone bridges are the norm here.

Enter the path along Palmer Avenue which is easy to identify because it's the singular road that runs under the train tracks at the station.  You'll find it to the west of the station easily because the mature forest of the parkway makes a big statement in the near distance from the tracks.  A stone bridge crosses the river within about two blocks and clear signage and a flower patch signal the entrance to the Bronx River Path several yards before the vehicular road which all indicate you have arrived.  You'll feel your pride in America as you see that this forested right of way could only have been laid out by a generation that foresaw a life of active and natural recreation for their successors.  There's a big difference between this route and the one described above -- you're usually walking just a foot or two above the water line unlike the extensive high gorges of the Hartsdale to Kensico section, although you'll get a little of that experience too later on beyond the village of Crestwood.

Soon, you will come upon Bronxville Lake made to look like a Corot painting with a perimeter of Alder trees accompanied by a poetically placed group of mature willows.  Further still, you'll pass near the Tuckahoe train station and an 1805 stone mill on the river originally built to process cotton when enslaved Africans were the dominant harvesters.  You can't help but pause here and reflect.  The immaculately kept grounds here announce how much has changed since then; the mill is now an Italian restaurant!  Many other mills processing a variety of goods like gun powder, etc. are to be appreciated today only by their man-made waterfalls.

Enjoy cooling vapor as you pass these early industrial relics and the soothing sound of falling water.  Do you enjoy the diversity of forests?  Here are some trees you'll see along your journey:
Hickory                                 Ash
Alder                                      Black cherry
Black willow                        American elm
Redbud                                 Dogwood varieties
Oak varieties                      Red maple
Beech                                    Norway maple
Sassafras                              Sweet gum
Crabapple                           Magnolia
Birch                                     White pine
Eastern hemlock             London plane
Tulip tree                           Sycamore maple
American sycamore

Recently replanted areas hold clusters of native plants.  Look for the red-fruited winterberry, olive-like foliage in inkberry, happy-making petals of black- eyed susan meadows and more!  Consider moving a little slower in the stretch just beyond Cretswood station and smell the white pine grove.  I put their cones to my nostrils and rediscover peace as a gift from the woods.
Toward the end of your trip is an exceptional stretch called Garth Woods which has it's own highly active and effective friends group.  The river is widest here of any place in Westchester outside of the dam-induced lakes and some sections have an appearance similar to the Schuylkill River so glorious at the edge of Philadelphia.

This journey is all about the water.  Tune into the water, the trees, the day time wildlife (cotton tailed rabbits, chipmunks, ducks and other birds) and zone into nature's meditation.  The sun's reflection off the water alone along the multiple gentle rapids will elevate whatever mood you arrive with!
Dining in Scarsdale:
Villa Roma Pizzaria & Restaurant  8 Depot Place  (southbound side of train station) 914-472-4848
Go Greenly frozen yogurt  58 Garth Woods  914-722-2026
Tengda Asian Bistro  56 Garth Road  914-723-8868

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by Outdoor Afro

We Made The Root 100!

This week, we learned Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro founder and CEO, was selected as one of TheRoot.com 100 black achievers and influencers between the ages of 25 and 45!
See the entire list!
Founded in 2008 under the leadership of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University, The Root offers a unique take on breaking news, provides solid analysis and presents dynamic multimedia content. The Root raises the profile of black voices in mainstream media and engages anyone interested in black culture around the world. It is owned by the Washington Post Company.
"The Root 100 honorees are not only high achievers, they are people who use their influence to shape the world and make it a better place," says Sheryl Salomon, Managing Editor of The Root. "Those who appear on our 2012 list have been especially active in this regard during the past year."
Click to learn more
Ranked honoree scores are determined by a mathematical formula that weighs elements of influence, such as reach, substance of work, media and internet mentions, and number of twitter followers.
Outdoor Afro is so very grateful and honored, and consider this recognition a benefit for the entire outdoor recreation, retail, and education fields!

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by Outdoor Afro

State of the Union: African Americans and the Great Outdoors

This is the theme of a not-to-miss panel discussion at the Black Environmental Thought Conference this week at the University of Minnesota, presented by Carolyn Finney, Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley; Nina S. Roberts, Ph.D., San Francisco State University; and Michael Starkey, M.A., Dominion of New York magazine.

In this panel, these three thought leaders will discuss ideas and concepts of resilience born out of a legacy of limitation and marginalization in the U.S. (slavery, Jim Crow, racism, etc.). They will explore where the tensions lie for Black people trying to engage the environment on their own terms, within a larger societal context.
In addition, this panel will provide information about the various forms of Black expression that highlight (as we do here at Outdoor Afro) how African Americans have and have always had an intimate, ever-changing and significant relationship with varying historical and present-day connections to the land. Using themes from their own academic work as a starting point, they plan to pose the following questions for discussion:

• What are implications for our future–engaging or not engaging a broader constituency in the climate change debate and the role of the “new” voices in the regeneration of our communities?
• How do we engage a diverse public in protecting natural landscapes?
• What happens if our nation loses voters in support of parks and public lands when these spaces are threatened?
• How can Black Environmental Thought inform this process?
• What are some of the generative possibilities?

Feel free to chime in on this important conversation on Outdoor Afro, and share your thoughts in the comments below or on our Facebook page!

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by Outdoor Afro