3 Plus Ways to be a Better Ally to Diverse Peoples in the Outdoors
Photo credit: canva.com. Graphic Artist: Sarai Pak
Nature and humanity have been connected since the beginning of humankind, and the natural world is meant to be cherished by everyone. As humans, we also have a responsibility to be caretakers of the water and land, and to care for all of humanity which relies on nature for joy and survival. How can we go beyond being an ally to become accomplices that seek to uphold justice within the outdoor space?
Be Aware of the Histories of Outdoor Spaces
Every outdoor space holds its own history, some good, and some bad. For starters, every National Park is the result of sacred lands being stolen from Indigenous peoples. And as people who recreate, work and enjoy these outdoor spaces, we should be aware of and try to understand their histories.
Tykee James, Co-Founder of Amplify the Future, constantly considers the histories of where he has worked. When James began as an environmental educator ten years ago, he taught within his own Black West Philadelphia community. But as he birdwatched in other parks, he observed that parks in wealthier neighborhoods where white people lived often had clean and maintained park benches, streetlights, and trash cans, elements that were not present in his own neighborhood.
“That's where I started to see that anywhere I bird is a reflection of a legacy of decision making of where resources should go and not go,” James said. “What is a sacred place? What is a sacrificed place? It was not just seeing who I was birding with, but [also] where I was birding that [made me] very aware of the systemic reality of racism.”
James’ experiences as a Black birder led him to co-start the Freedom Birders Project, a program that follows the inspired path of the Freedom Riders, a combined effort of the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committees that recruited Black and white people to get on buses traveling south to protest segregated buses and bus terminals in 1961. Through his work with Freedom Birders Project,James envisions sharing the stories of historic and present-day Black resistance through the lens of birdwatching in outdoor spaces.
“Seeing how different elements of wildlife can also tell us about the effects that people have had on the story of land. An interstate alone can tell a very large story about who disappeared along this route,” James said. “When we talk about determining action, making a meaningful difference, we have to consider it in the context of the people, the history, the land, all of it.”
2. Educate Yourself
Although you may have good intentions in asking someone of that marginalized identity to explain their lived experience, it can become exhausting for them to repeat this over and over.
Instead, do your own research! Read books by Indigenous authors like “Braiding Sweetgrass” or “Fresh Banana Leaves,” which explore how Indigenous relationships with the environment have been altered through colonialism. Explore the concepts of Queer Ecology and Ecofeminism, or learn how disabled people are excluded from outdoor spaces via non-inclusive design. Podcasts like Sam DeJarnett’s Always Be Birdin' changes narratives of bird watching with other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) birders.
If books or podcasts aren’t your thing, Diverse Nature Collective (DNC) founder Patricia Wilson suggests deliberately diversifying your social media content to include creators from a wide variety of backgrounds.
“It’s not that fat or disabled people don’t exist in these spaces, it’s that they are not properly represented in the mainstream marketing of the outdoors and that’s problematic because it enforces this narrative that If you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist,” Wilson said. “It’s the same with Black, Indigenous and POC people and our lack of representation within the outdoors. We exist and we take up space but people don’t know about us because we are deliberately not showcased in this space
3. Be An Accomplice, not an Ally
An ally is a person of one social identity group who stands up in support of members of another group, yet their willingness to stand for a marginalized group rarely involves risk. An accomplice takes it a step further to leverage their identity’s power and privilege to challenge the status quo, often risking their physical and social well being in the process.
Every person is made up of more than one different identity and experience, so anyone can be an accomplice to anyone holding marginalized identities. James believes that while allyship is a good start for anyone realizing how their lives are connected to the lives of others, we should all strive to take on the more active role of accomplices instead.
“It's accomplices who are making the difference,” James said. “Not a single person [of the Freedom Riders] was an ally. They were accomplices, and they were so connected to what was at stake. A lot of them went to jail. That led to a meaningful difference in people's lives, and (the meaningful difference was) not for the white people that were participating.”
4. Demonstrate your Values
How do we become comfortable standing up for our beliefs so that we may begin to take action outdoors? Start with identifying your values and normalizing how you demonstrate them on an interpersonal level with friends, family, and local community. To start, you can speak up against homophobic, ableist, and other discriminatory remarks. If you believe in equality for all, you can talk with anyone about the environmental racism that unjustly treats Indigenous lands and neighborhoods of color as toxic dumping sites.
“When you think about it, how we treat the land is a reflection of how we treat ourselves and each other,” says farmer and photographer Miguel Angel, who goes by Indio. “In Western philosophy, the land is there for us to extract resources to use in whatever way that benefits humans first, whereas in Indigenous land philosophy, it's about constant relationships and relating to one another, and how we're affected through our connections.”
Indio, who works at Chicago Patchwork Farms, traveled to assist Indigenous resistance camps on Anishinaabe land in August 2021 and the Winnemucca Colony in February 2022. As someone with Indigenous ancestry to southern Mexico, he felt called to be part of other Indigenous-led movements that liberate people and land. On his website, Indio documents his experiences in these movements and showcases the stories of Black and Indigenous folks who work together to heal land and people.
5. Rationalize your Rules
Carry your values from your personal relationships with friends and family to the interactions you have at work, school, and in public in general. Examine your workplace, or outdoor organizations where you may hold a membership, such as Sierra Club. Consider that if the majority of your leadership, volunteers, guides, instructors, and scholarship recipients look the same—your organization probably isn’t inclusive. Comb through its mission, philosophy, code of conduct, bylaws, etc. and see if they reflect the values you want to normalize in the world. Wilson believes it is essential to work with indigenous communities on whose land we exist.
“If you’re working within the environmental or conservation industry you should advocate for your organization to not only work with Indigenous communities, but also to build meaningful and authentic relationships with them,” Wilson, from DNC, said. “Your organizations should work with Indigenous people to help better inform the work you do, and you should be paying knowledge holders for their time and expertise. Hold your workplace accountable.”
As a mixed-race Black woman, Wilson founded the DNC after feeling frustrated by a lack of diverse representation in outdoor spaces, and by sentiments that “people with different ethnic backgrounds don’t like the outdoors.” She aims to create outside spaces for BIPOC people in the environmental industry while highlighting other diverse groups.
“I think what could be done to make myself and other racialized individuals feel more supported is if organizations worked harder to diversify leadership, [and] work[ed] to dismantle barriers for racialized folks to join in and to collaborate with more community partners in order to have more voices and better representation at the table,” Wilson said.
6. Organize Against Structures
Now, move your action to the structural level. Groups of institutions, such as local or state governments, are working together to create our current systems of oppression, and it’s necessary to organize against those structures. That may sound overwhelming, but you can effectively organize with friends in a group chat.
“That’s what we did for Black Birders.” Tykee said. “We can organize these new committees that we see for equity, diversity, and inclusion, or we can organize in unions, where workers have an opportunity to demonstrate their power and create a workplace that truly demonstrates their values and rationalizes rules so that, for example, no employee should pay out of pocket for professional development, because often the employees that need it most make the least.”
There are already a variety of existing groups that help protect, promote, and empower people with marginalized identities. These could look like an Indigenous-led community garden, a disabled hiking club, or a queer surfing group. Consider how you could lend your support to these community-based organizations through giving time or money.
7. Center the Experiences of Others
Being kind isn’t enough. Being a good accomplice requires centering your focus on marginalized groups within the outdoors, which include people who hold disabled, queer, poor, Black, and Indigenous identities. Consider how someone who doesn’t look like you lives an entirely different life experience, and how that could reflect within our systemic structures.
“I started getting involved with environmental advocacy and really didn't like it because it was a bunch of white people coming into my community telling me what the big issues were,” James said. “It's not that I disagree with things like climate change or global warming. But if you don't talk about the lack of access to health care, asthma rates, and lead in the water, in the soil, in the buildings, in the pipes, and in the schools, we're not talking about the same environmental issues that you're worried about as a white person who's removed from these immediate determinants.”
When you do hear the experiences of people with marginalized identities, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. While you’re listening, be present and don’t make it about you or your opinions.
“One time I stayed at this scientist’s house who said that if nothing happens, climate change will affect us to the point where earth itself will be destroyed, and I disagreed. I think the earth will take care of us before we get to that point, but she was so bent on saying that I was wrong because she knows the science behind everything,” Indio said. “It was crazy to believe that I was sharing my experiences and philosophy as an Indigenous person, but she just had to say, ‘No, I know better because I'm a scientist.’”
8. Stay Humble
You’re likely going to say or do the wrong thing at times. No one is perfect. Be patient with yourself and others. It’s important to acknowledge when you’ve done wrong, do the work to make amends, and learn from your mistakes so that you don’t make them in the future. Remember once again that our intersectional experiences connect us with privileged or marginalized identities. In recognizing and acknowledging your own privilege, you can use that privilege to fight for marginalized groups in a way that may endanger their livelihoods, and hold space in knowing when you have reached your own limits to take space for yourself.
“If you are calling someone out for their racist behavior and they want to argue and get defensive or somehow make themselves the victim then honestly, they aren’t worth your time and energy,” Wilson said. “Burnout is real and it can be extremely draining for racialized folks to continuously point out offensive behavior to try and convince people to check their privilege. We need our white allies to have these difficult conversations with other white folks. You hold so much power and privilege so use it to your benefit and call people out, educate them and share what you’ve learned.”
9. Decolonize Your Own Ancestry
Consider how you can work to create space for future generations to grow in a world with less discrimination. If you carry the guilt of a family legacy of homophobia, racism, or other discriminatory action, acknowledge that legacy ends with your work as an accomplice. Indio believes that decolonizing our own lineages will teach us how to better connect and collaborate with the land and people around us.
“What we're taught right now is that progress is about leaving traditions behind. I'm thinking about seven generations down, how much language, ceremonies and culture we will lose. I often see that kids do grow up like this, but then they have this yearning of wanting to connect again,” Indio said. “And that’s great, but we need to create an environment where they are able to connect from an early age.”
Indio believes we can all work as allies and accomplices to create spaces for the next generation of children to connect to the land. He says his own journey of reclaiming his Indigenous ancestry has given his spirit freedom.
“There was a reason why my ancestors were living with all these rituals and ceremonies. I tapped into that to see what I feel,” Indio said. “What I found through farming is our connection to everything, and how the land loves me. Being able to see the beauty of it has been able to connect me to how my ancestors viewed nature.”
