Featured Outdoor Afro: Robert Alexander
Robert Alexander became passionate about the outdoors during his youth in Oakland, California. Outdoor Afro recently spoke with Robert to discuss his evolving commitment to outdoor recreation.
What is your favorite outdoor recreation activity?
Do your friends and family join you in your outdoor pursuits?
If you had one recommendation for someone who wanted to start participating in outdoor recreation as an adult, what is the most important advice you have for them?
We know you recently received your SCUBA certification, what is the next outdoor milestone you hope to reach?
Sister Snowboarders!
Snowboarding is not just for the fellas. Outdoor Afro caught up with Tomar Brown (30) and Karen Anderson (36), of Washington D.C. who have found excitement and fun on the slopes.
When asked how they each got involved with snowboarding together they said it started with rugby, which they have played competitively for the past ten years, and is where the two met and became a couple. “Rugby seems to have started a lot of things for us,” said Brown with a laugh. In the off-season she explained that some members of their rugby team take their sporting camaraderie to the slopes, so they had a ready-made community of support to get started. Even though some years ago, Karen took her young son out on the slopes to snowboard for the first time for the both of them, she found she enjoyed the sport more than he did. So she was delighted to meet Tomar years later, who re-ignited her interest in the slopes -- something they enjoyed doing together.
When asked if the two ever felt uncomfortable or experienced stares while snowboarding, especially in settings where there are few people of color, the two shrugged it off and said that the slopes can actually feel anonymous as people are hidden behind layers of protective clothing and accessories. And the journey down the mountain feels quite personal and solitary, where Tomar admits she might bump hip-hop or Kirk Franklin to get her snow groove on!
For the beginning snowboarder, Karen says, “forget the big trips and go instead to small towns.” Her favorites include North Conway, New Hampshire or when with a group, Steamboat Springs, Colorado.” She says that March is a great month to find deals in small towns, and when snowboarding away from the crowds, the experience feels more personal, and lodge bartenders remember your name! Both agreed that the most important thing is simply to learn how to snowboard, and along the way expect the sport to “beat you up, and take you down.” But once you gain control, finding that personal zone of fun and exhilarating release makes it all worthwhile.
What are your experiences skiing and snowboarding? If you have never tried, what holds you back?
A Day of Service: Celebrating the Legacy of Dr. King
Like many others around the country, this year I spent the Martin Luther King Day Holiday in service of my local community. I chose to do restoration at the aptly named Martin Luther King shoreline in Oakland, California. The area is located just a stones throw away from a congested freeway and sports complex, and is a gorgeous natural environment teeming with local birds and other wildlife that connects to the beautiful San Francisco Bay.
In spite of the heavy rain, scores of people from nearly every walk of life and representing many organizations came out to put native plants in the ground, and do the meticulous clean-up of debris that washes in from the surrounding community’s streams and gutters.
Rubén, my co-worker at Golden Gate Audubon was on hand with a watershed model city and demonstrated to participants just how humans have an important impact on wild spaces -- for better or worse. The East Bay Regional Parks, who were also key coordinators for the event, educated the public about how birds ingest plastic and other trash that remains trapped in their digestive system.
My kids and I walked along the shore and together we filled up a bag of all kinds of debris. A bottle cap here, pieces of styrofoam there; altogether a menace to this local environment. As we cleaned up, my 6 and 8 year old expressed their frustration, “why would people do this?” I answered, “I don’t know,” but inside felt grateful that even at their young age, they understood how people can make a difference in their local environment and were able to see first hand the consequences of indifference. I think Dr. King would be proud.
Did you choose to serve today? If so, what did you do?
Prayers for the People of Haiti
The sorrow I feel for the loss of life and suffering is hardly describable, but I am heartened by all the innovative ways people and nations are stepping up to lend a hand using social media. Partners in Health is one organization that has been in the practice of providing quality healthcare for the global poor for two decades:
If you have not donated already to another organization, or still deciding where to make a contribution, please consider supporting PIH who are already mobilized in Haiti and need your support to help those affected by the earthquake.
Thank you.
Avatar and Environmental Justice
In an interview yesterday with Dianne Glave author of Rooted in the Earth: Reclaiming the African American Environmental Heritage (August 2010), she shared some of her insights with me about the movie Avatar, and its connection to people of color and the environment.
So you finally saw Avatar! What are some of your initial thoughts?
Many people were raving about Avatar, so I had to see it! And while director James Cameron is breaking his own record [over Titanic] with more than a billion dollars in gross sales, I was pleasantly surprised by something different: the emphasis on environmental justice on the fictional planet Pandora, and its native people, the Na’vi.
Tell us more about what the movie meant for you as an environmentalist.
Movies amplify and parallel societal concerns. Even though the recent film 2012 also told a story of environmental destruction, Avatar went further because it takes the movie-goer on a very personal journey, an intense love story between characters from literally different worlds: Jake Sully and Neytiri.
Why do you think a love story was an important narrative device here?
Love and relationships are fundamental to the earth’s sustenance and survival. In the movie, the love of Jake and Neytiri empower them and their respective communities to effectively battle a hostile military presence. Futuristic Earth is in trouble and needs Unobtainium, a mineral located under a sacred tree that contains the spiritual life of the Na’vi, whose worship and biological lives are literally connected to everything in their environment. For example, the Na’vi’s tails symbiotically fuse to plants and the creatures they ride as a symbol of empathy and interconnection to all living things.
Why is Avatar an important story now?
The conflict between the military and the Na’vi reflect modern day concerns regarding who controls and exploits natural resources here on earth—in countries like the United States, and in your own backyard. People who are marginalized, particularly people of color who face environmental racism, deserve environmental justice. This includes access to natural resources like water and land, along with recreation facilities like parks and accessible open space. Here in the United States, no one should have to live near a toxic waste dump or around the bend from a nuclear plant. The same was true for the Na’vi, who battled to keep their planet pristine filled with wondrous trees and creatures, protecting it from becoming a strip mine for a mineral.
Anything else you want to add?
I will stop here although there is so much more about the movie I would love to share and how it related to current issues with people of color and the environment. And I certainly don’t want to ruin it with spoilers for those who have not seen Avatar in 3D! At the very least, I encourage everyone to see it for the spectacular visual effects and compelling love story. The environmental themes are a real bonus for those of us who are green.
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Dianne D. Glave lives in Atlanta and teaches in the department of history at Morehouse College. She is the coeditor of To Love the Wind and the Rain: African Americans and Environmental History.
The Best is Yet to Come
Happy New Year! I am so excited about all that lies ahead for 2010. I've got some pretty cool stories in the works to provide more inspiration and visibility of people of color outdoors, as well as some new partnerships to help make it easy for people to get outside.
In 2009, Outdoor Afro was born as a simple Blogger blog and has since been transformed using Wordpress and Facebook. The experience of developing the site has opened up a new universe of possibilities for many. To discuss and participate in the outdoors is simply who I am, and it is a rare gift to find work that is so fun, it feels like play. I am tremendously grateful for all the people who have passionately supported this project from the start, which genuinely strives to make a positive difference in the lives of people through the outdoors.
Thank you, and I wish each of you the very best for 2010!
Rue
Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanzaa
I don't know about you, but I have been caught up in the exciting rush of holiday activities! Like Thanksgiving, I can't wait to bring our family and friends together to catch up, eat great food, and laugh until our sides hurt. Unfortunately this means less time for writing, and I finally realized that it's perfectly OK to take a little vacay from the keyboard - I just need to let folks know so they know I'm alright -- and I am more than alright!
That said, I wish all Outdoor Afros (the coolest people on the planet), the experience of love, peace, and blue skies this holiday season.
Be safe and enjoy continued blessings!
Rue
Great Books as Holiday Stocking Stuffers!
I have to disclose up front that I am pretty biased about these three book recommendations because I am privileged to know each of the authors as partners through the development of Outdoor Afro and our shared passion for people of color and the outdoors. But aside from my excitement and gratitude for these folks, they have each produced some pretty extraordinary work well worth buying for your loved ones this holiday season.
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As many of you know, Frank and Audrey Peterman have been at the forefront of outdoor conservation and advocates for greater diversity in our National Parks. Their recent ground breaking conference energized and organized a constituency that supports more people of color to get out and enjoy our natural resources. The work of this couple, and their enlightening book, Legacy on the Land, will inspire you.
$19.95 USD - Click to Purchase!
Shelton Johnson has been with the National Parks as a ranger for decades, but his recent appearance in the Ken Burns Documentary and recent meeting with President Obama, brought his role as a conduit of historical Yosemite's Buffalo Soldier to new audiences. His book, Glory Land, is a beautifully written historical narrative that's fun to read aloud.
I blogged about Dudley Edmondson some months back, and since then we became good friends. But every now and then someone will come up to me with a copy of his book The Black & Brown Faces in America's Wild Places and ask, "have you seen this before?" Well, indeed I have! And it enjoys a prominent spot on my coffee table so my guests and kids can look at amazing photos of people of color in wild spaces whenever they want.
Three different books about similar passions to engage everyone in your family. Can't decide? Go to your local, independent book store and buy them all!
Matthew Reese: Snowboarder
Matthew Reese of Seattle, Washington might have gone his entire life without laying a foot on a snowboard. In a recent phone interview, Reese said he used to think: black people don’t ski, snow is too cold, and snow sports conflict with basketball season! But earlier this year, at age 30, his snowboarding co-workers finally convinced him to trek up to the slopes with them on a trip that changed his perspective regarding what was possible through the experience of snowboarding.
As a long time athlete, he felt confident he could take on a challenging run his first time out, but the mountain humbled him. Reese frankly calls that first time as “pretty horrible” and he even called it quits early in the day to tend to his battered limbs. However Reese was undeterred by the initial bruises, and was determined to try again a couple weeks later with an Urban League group for a Valentine’s Day event. The trip had a good mix people with varying skill levels and was where he found his snow groove that launched a new obsession for the rush, challenge, and excitement of snowboarding.
As an African-American male, I asked if he ever felt discriminated against while participating in the sport: “not at all,” says Reese. He finds that snowboarders are passionate about the sport and welcoming to anyone who feels the same way. The slopes are a great equalizer, however he does admit that it’s hard to be taken seriously in the board stores. Reese humorously recalls shop visits where employees learn after he starts talking, how knowledgeable he is about the sport and quickly change their customer service tune!
Reese is not playing around when it comes to snowboarding -- in just this year, he has traveled to five different mountains and now skis every weekend. A favorite is his local Stevens Pass, but he also enjoys traveling to surrounding states to experience new challenges. For Reese, snowboarding has opened up a whole new path of fun, travel, and networking and he hopes others give snow sports a try as one way to discover new things about themselves, and the world around them.
Matthew Reese’s tips for Outdoor Afros who want to get started snowboarding:
- If you are not certain about the sport, renting gear initially is fine
- As soon as you know you want to continue with the sport, buy your gear as you’ll save money over time
- It may be a big initial investment, but if you shop around, you’ll find many deals
Still not convinced black people and the snow mix? Do you have other ideas and tips to share? Comment about it!
Reconnecting at Mammoth Caves
The Tennessee Aquatic Project is a youth organization that engages at-risk and inner city youth with a wide range of outdoor and civic activities to enhance personal development.
After meeting up at the Breaking the Color Barrier Conference last September, Ken Stewart of the Tennessee Aquatic Project (TAP) and Jerry Bransford, a Mammoth Cave National Park guide, decided to join forces and send over sixty youth on a trek up to the Caves. The youth were able to hear first hand the intriguing story of Bransford's slave ancestors who were important contributors to the cave site.
“African Americans played a vital role in the development of cave tour routes and the visitor experience throughout the 19th and early 20th century. The first black guides were slaves, and through their efforts opened up the golden age of cave exploration for Mammoth Cave” (NPS website) The TAP youth camped out the rest of the weekend, enjoying outdoor activities led by Stewart during the day, and joined by Jerry Bransford in the evenings to hear more about his family history at the caves.
Learn more:
Tennessee Aquatic Project
Black History at Mammoth Cave National Park: