“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to begin to tell the world of the momentous contribution the Buffalo Soldiers have made to our country,” said Congresswoman Speier.   “It is fitting, during Black History Month, that we take the first steps towards the rightful recognition of these soldiers.   They were truly the first guardians of our National Parks, blazing the trails, building the roads and protecting the lands for visitors – they helped make the vision for our National Parks a reality.”

Racism is a word that seldom comes up in a discussion of environmental protection. Clean air, water and soil are universal human values that transcend ethnic identity or the color of one’s skin. But in metropolitan centers around the United States minority communities are being inundated with a disproportionate burden of pollution. Industrial waste, municipal garbage and sewage treatment plants are routinely deposited in areas predominately populated by low income African Americans and Hispanics.

In 1988 a community organizer named Peggy Shepard was asked to help address concerns around the creation of one such sewage treatment plant. A facility built in the New York City burrow of Harlem.

” It’s interesting how you can walk by things everyday or they can be in your community and it just never registers what they are,” Shepard said. “And so we began to organize around getting people jobs there because we thought that was the issue. But once it fully began operating we realized that emissions and odors were making people sick. And we began an eight-year organizing campaign to get the city to fix the plant and we were successful.”

By bringing people in the community together Shepherd’s organization compelled the City of New York to commit $55 million to clean up the facility. They were also successful in creating environmental safety policies that would prevent further contamination at this and other sites in the future. With a lawsuit settlement of $1.1million Shepherd create a new organization called West Harlem Environmental Action Inc. And today known as WEACT the group fights to prevent minority communities from suffering illness and premature death due to acts of environmental injustice.

“When we look at the glaring health disparities that we have between communities you’ve got to wonder about the contributing factors to that illness and excess mortality,” Shepard said. “And we believe that it’s housing conditions and the desperate burden of pollution.”

For those of us who care deeply about protecting the environment we should take a real close around at the world in which live. Clean air, water and soil aren’t only at risk in the distant wild and scenic places of our national parks, but in the spaces where we work, play and make our homes. And in these places segments of our society, often still segregated by race are being unfairly targeted with more than their share of our pollution. We’re not just talking about environmental protection. The issue now is environmental justice. In this edition of the Joy Trip Project we talk to Peggy Shepard the executive director of West Harlem Environmental Action Inc.

Music this week by Brett Dennen

Thanks to our sponsors, Recreational Equipment Inc, REI and Patagonia. We don’t take money from just anyone. Sponsors of the Joy Trip Project support our mission of an active lifestyle through outdoor recreation and community involvement. Support us by supporting them.

Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast help spread the word by posting a link to it on your Facebook page. Or send it as a tweet to your followers on Twitter. Social media is vibrant exchange of ideas join the conversation by becoming engage. Post your comments the Joy Trip Project blog or send us an email to info@Joy Trip Project.com.

Share your stories. Share your passion for outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving, and practices of sustainable living. You just might inspire our next Joy Trip together. But most of all don’t forget to tell your friends. Until next time take care.

]]> http://joytripproject.org/blog/2010/02/09/environmental-justice/feed/ 0 An interview with Peggy Shepard executive director of West Harlem Environmental Action Inc. - Racism is a word that seldom comes up in a discussion of environmental protection. Clean air, water and soil are universal human values that transcend ethnic... An interview with Peggy Shepard executive director of West Harlem Environmental Action Inc. Racism is a word that seldom comes up in a discussion of environmental protection. Clean air, water and soil are universal human values that transcend ethnic identity or the color of one’s skin. But in metropolitan centers around the United States minority communities are being inundated with a disproportionate burden of pollution. Industrial waste, municipal garbage and sewage treatment plants are routinely deposited in areas predominately populated by low income African Americans and Hispanics. In 1988 a community organizer named Peggy Shepard was asked to help address concerns around the creation of one such sewage treatment plant. A facility built in the New York City burrow of Harlem. ” It’s interesting how you can walk by things everyday or they can be in your community and it just never registers what they are," Shepard said. "And so we began to organize around getting people jobs there because we thought that was the issue. But once it fully began operating we realized that emissions and odors were making people sick. And we began an eight-year organizing campaign to get the city to fix the plant and we were successful." By bringing people in the community together Shepherd’s organization compelled the City of New York to commit $55 million to clean up the facility. They were also successful in creating environmental safety policies that would prevent further contamination at this and other sites in the future. With a lawsuit settlement of $1.1million Shepherd create a new organization called West Harlem Environmental Action Inc. And today known as WEACT the group fights to prevent minority communities from suffering illness and premature death due to acts of environmental injustice. "When we look at the glaring health disparities that we have between communities you’ve got to wonder about the contributing factors to that illness and excess mortality," Shepard said. "And we believe that it’s housing conditions and the desperate burden of pollution." For those of us who care deeply about protecting the environment we should take a real close around at the world in which live. Clean air, water and soil aren’t only at risk in the distant wild and scenic places of our national parks, but in the spaces where we work, play and make our homes. And in these places segments of our society, often still segregated by race are being unfairly targeted with more than their share of our pollution. We’re not just talking about environmental protection. The issue now is environmental justice. In this edition of the Joy Trip Project we talk to Peggy Shepard the executive director of West Harlem Environmental Action Inc. Music this week by Brett Dennen Thanks to our sponsors, Recreational Equipment Inc, REI and Patagonia. We don’t take money from just anyone. Sponsors of the Joy Trip Project support our mission of an active lifestyle through outdoor recreation and community involvement. Support us by supporting them. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this podcast help spread the word by posting a link to it on your Facebook page. Or send it as a tweet to your followers on Twitter. Social media is vibrant exchange of ideas join the conversation by becoming engage. Post your comments the Joy Trip Project blog or send us an email to info@Joy Trip Project.com. Share your stories. Share your passion for outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving, and practices of sustainable living. You just might inspire our next Joy Trip together. But most of all don’t forget to tell your friends. Until next time take care. James Edward Mills clean 16:21 http://joytripproject.org/blog/2010/01/03/environmental-justice-for-a-new-decade/ http://joytripproject.org/blog/2010/01/03/environmental-justice-for-a-new-decade/#comments Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:08:33 +0000 joytripproject http://joytripproject.org/blog/?p=2318 It’s hard to believe. The Joy Trip Project just turned over its first full year of production. The podcast, blog and photo stream posted to the Internet one year ago this week. And after 12 solid months of experimentation, hand wringing and soul searching the JTP is slowly emerging as a recognizable voice in the social media mainstream. And as the feed sets out its second lap around the sun the JTP is moving forward with a profound sense of purpose and a worthwhile new mission.

From the outset, the Joy Trip Project was created to report on the business, art and culture of the active lifestyle. To that end I’ve developed a number of stories along the lines of outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving and practices of sustainable living. That’s in the mission statement. In my reporting I have discovered many amazing individuals and institutions dedicated to protecting the natural world and making it possible for future generations to enjoy safe land, air and water.

Perhaps the most successful project of 2009 was the creation of a 9-minute audio story for the Public Radio International program To The Best of Our Knowledge. I produced a documentary short on The Buffalo Soldiers and their contributions to the establishment of Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks at the turn of the last century. Thanks to Recreational Equipment Inc. REI for providing a small grant that made that piece possible. In September it aired on 139 National Public Radio member stations across the country. Thanks to Patagonia for sponsoring in part the 2010 season of the Joy Trip Project that will continue this line of inquiry to find answers to a most perplexing question.

While researching African-Americans’ earliest engagement in the conservation movement I discovered that there are still many in our community whose access to basic natural resources are severely limited. Due in part to the financial challenges of our struggling economy, there are many among us as well who miss out on a healthy active lifestyle because of racial discrimination in our past that perpetuates to this day.

Perhaps as a person of color myself I am a bit more sensitive to the subtleties of racism. More than 40 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and even with the election of the first African-American President, there are still institutional artifacts of discrimination that present themselves. Ethnic minorities, most of whom live in urban centers across the country, are denied the same access to green space, uncontaminated drinking water and air free of pollutants. To my knowledge there are no overt, racially motivated efforts to deliberately target communities of color. Modern discrimination, in its complexity, is incidental as to race. But many disenfranchised neighborhoods, most often populated by African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians, simply lack the political clout to receive preferential consideration in municipal zoning.  Often these communities become dumping grounds for industrial toxins or the sites for processing facilities that produce noxious emissions. Seldom are these communities selected for the creation of parks or recreation centers for their residents to enjoy.

In an interview with urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter in 2009 I learned that many of the social policies that affect our relationship with the environment are unjust and people of color seldom get their fair share of initiatives designed to improve life on the planet.

“The current state of the environment is a direct result of inequality,” Careter said. “It affects everything. It affects public health. It affects education. It affects the kinds of jobs that we’d like to have or not have. It affects the incarceration rates. It affects how people view themselves within the context of being an American. It affects their self-esteem. You name it. It affects it.”

When it comes to environmental protection there are many policies currently in place that unjustly impose a higher burden of ecological stress on communities of color. With drastic stiffs in the weather patterns around the world due to global warming, people who live on the fringe of our society, those disenfranchised for any reason will be among the first to feel the impact of rising temperatures on our planet. In this country Hurricane Katrina is the perfect example. Years after the event there are still black families (and many poor whites) in New Orleans who cannot return to their homes.

Environmental Justice will be a primary focus of the Joy Trip Project moving forward. I aim to develop a number of new feature stories and blog posts on issues that disproportionately affect communities of color and the role minorities play in the modern conversation movement. The goal will be to develop content for print magazines, web sites and NPR programs who have expressed interest in my work.

I realize that this change of focus will disillusion many of the fans and friends of the Joy Trip Project. And for that I am truly sorry. I suspect that there are many who believe that racial discrimination is a thing of past. And especially in the natural world, in the wild and scenic places we love, there is no racism. But I have to tell you from my own personal experience and that of many who share this belief there’s plenty of discrimination to go round.

Take a look and ask yourself: Why aren’t there more people of color where I go hiking? What about skiing? Rock climbing? Whitewater rafting? Take a look at your favorite magazines or retail catalogs and count the number of African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians you find there. The number will be remarkably small.

A friend at my alma mater UC Berkeley counted the occurrences of print images of African-Americans in a popular outdoor magazine spanning 10 years. Once she formally releases her findings I’ll share them in this blog. But I can tell you now that the results are shocking and painfully disappointing. To some they will come as no surprise at all.

There are no signs nor are there laws that prevent people of color from enjoying the outdoors. There is no one at the gates of Yosemite or Yellowstone today denying minorities access to the National Parks. Discrimination goes both ways. In many communities people of color are making a choice not to become involved in outdoor recreation or environmental conservation. I want to know why. I believe that throughout our culture there are social and institutional pressures at work that segregate our notions of outdoor recreation along racial lines. In 2010 I aim to discover or at least discuss what some of these pressures are.

I’ll still create fun stories on emerging technologies in outdoor recreation and adventure stories of people doing remarkable things in the natural world. But as one of a very few African-American journalists in the outdoor recreation industry today, it’s become clear to me now that if I don’t dedicate some time to addressing these issues in the new decade no one else will. ~ JEM

Photo illustration by James Edward Mills

An interview with urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter

JTP:

Delegates from about 190 countries are gathering over the next two weeks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Although this is a landmark event, the largest meeting ever to discuss the environmental future of our planet. I’m a little concerned that we may not be talking about the most important issues.

The other night on NPR David Kestenbaum reported on the first day of the conference. In his report on All Things Considered he said everyone pretty much agrees that we have to do something about climate change. But how I see it where the problem lies is that the delegates also seem to share the same disagreements

NPR:

In fact most of the disagreements, they’re all about money. Developing countries like Bolivia are arguing “Hey The global warming problem? you in the developed world made it. So to solve it you’re going to have to give us money to adapt and to keep our emissions down as we grow.

JTP:

The industrial growth that caused the climate change crisis in the first place will apparently continue. You see it seems that the Copenhagen delegates are really only arguing about who gets to continue to pollute the atmosphere with carbon gas emissions and how much. The conversation so far seems to be relegated to trading carbon credits for cash so the developing world can continue to build factories and produce consumer goods. But at what cost? What about the environment? And what about millions of disenfranchised people in the U.S. and around the world that will be most directly impacted as our planet’s climate continues to change in the wake of human progress?

I won’t be attending the conference in Copenhagen. But a few weeks ago I did attend the Breaking the Color Barrier to the Great Outdoors conference in Atlanta. A few hundred African American Environmentalist gathered to talk among other things about the role people of color can play in protecting the natural world. There I met Majora Carter, the 2005 winner of the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. She received $500,000 to developed her ideas on creating sustainable urban communities. And while we didn’t talk about Copenhagen in particular Carter has a rather unique perspective how best to curb some of the social effects of Climate Change.

Carter:

The McArthur Foundation dubbed me an urban revitalization strategist. Which I love, because of the work that I did around pioneering one of the first green jobs training systems in the country, really doing community based, led project development in one of the poorest congressional districts in the country that’s also one of the most environmentally challenged. And the idea was that you can do development that met both the environmental as well as economic needs of a very poor communities and give them the tools they need to enjoy it and be a part of its development.

JTP:

The environmental issues that our planet faces aren’t limited to carbon emissions. Though green houses gases are indeed the primary cause of global warming it’s the institutions and practices of human behavior that create them. Carter believes that we need to develop community based initiatives that produce green jobs and allow ordinary people take an active part in the cessation carbon emitting industries.     In order to make lasting change in the fight again climate change we have to rethink how we develop and live in our urban centers. And for many communities around world that’s going to mean taking a hard look at issues of social justice, how we treat the urban poor as well as racial and ethnic minorities. I’m James Mills and you’re listening to The Joy Trip Project.

JTP:

There are many, many challenges that are involved in doing any kind of development in urban areas. Especially those areas where you’ve had a tremendous amount of disinvestment that started at a very high level that lead to the displacement of people or the development of lost of noxious facilities in a community or manufacturing or jobs leaving a particular area. So when you couple all of that, lack of opportunities with a more degraded landscape, then you will layer in things like public health problems and crime and lack of educational attainment. When you put those things together, yes you do have a particular slew of problems that are exacerbated by the fact that people feel powerless because of all these things that have been heaped upon them.  So given that you know you got the fact that you’ve got people from the outside going “Oh! That’s a poor community and the don’t know any better.” And then you also have people on the inside feeling that they don’t deserve any better.  That is not an easy place to work. It’s just not. And unfortunately there’re a lot of places like that in the world.

JTP:

But here we are. We find ourselves doing the work of creating environmental strategies. And in a lot of ways working toward issues of social justice where the environment is a direct result of inequality, in a lot of ways racially, socially economically for sure. How are African-Americans in particular impact in the type of work that you’re doing and hopefully aiming to correct.

Carter:

The current state of the environment is a direct result of inequality, absolutely. The fact that public policy will look at a poor community, a poor community of color or any color frankly and see that, that would be a perfectly appropriate place to put some of the most toxic industries ever. And yes black people disproportionately in this country are the recipients of things like that. We are, poor black communities in particular.  So it affects everything. It affects public health. It affects education. It affects the kinds of jobs that we’d like to have or not have. It affects the incarceration rates. It affects how people view themselves within the context of being an American. It affects their self esteem. You name it. It affects it.  So that’s an issue we have to deal with.

JTP:

People how find themselves in urban centers where their health and wellbeing is being impacted by their environment don’t always have the opportunity to think about recreation in an environmental standpoint. How do people of color find themselves enjoying the outdoors when they have so many other things to deal with.

Carter:

There have been studies that show when people come in contact with nature that things improve for them. In particular, one of the most famous ones that I know about was done at the University of Illinois. They looked at Cabrini Green, one of the most notorious housing projects in the world as far as I know. They noticed that kids and families that lived near just a cluster of spindly little urban street trees that the test scores for those kids went up, that the self esteem rates for little girls also went up, which was evidenced in the fact that there was less teenage pregnancy amongst those young women. That there was less crime in those neighborhoods because people were outside more enjoying each other and their community more. So when folks tell me that there is this disconnect between people… especially the inner city poor and the environment, I say it’s because it’s not there. Because the second you build it, people start to respond it. For example, I spearheaded the development of one the first waterfront parks in our community.  People are different when they are there, because it’s going trees, it’s got grass, it’s got the waterfront there that like beacons to them. And you automatically become a different person when you’re there. You feel it. You k now that you’re in a safer space. So for all sorts of reason, not just the mental health and wellbeing but the other pieces you need that kind of environment in order to help us deal with some of the climate challenges that we’re experiencing right now. And I think people connecting, the idea that you can even in an urban area there actually does need to be nature we’ll actually help make the transition for them to understand the value of our public lands in terms of how that is also protecting us, that those natural resources they are carbon sinks. They do actually absorb storm water. They do all these things that are protective of the cities and our regions. So we need to be real mindful.

You know, the great migration really I think messed with I think black people in particular minds a bit on some level. You were part of the south and it was an agrarian society and you had to move up north to make it big and so you left all that behind. And I think it’s been generations of people who have been taught to believe that the land is something that we should not fully embrace as a part of ourselves. And I think we are reaping, reaping all the awfulness that comes from separating ourselves from your environment.

JTP:

Is it safe to suggest or even assume that these urban communities can be gateways to the global preservation of wild and scenic places?

Carter:

Hey have to think of our urban areas as gateways to our more natural areas because frankly 70 percent of our world’s populations is going to b in cities not too far in the distant future. So we have to help people live more sustainably and have the opportunities to do so in the urban areas as we help them understand the value of protecting our wild natural places as well for all the environmental services that they provide to the planet, air quality, all those wonderful things.  So given all that we need to be real clear about how we’re helping educate our people because, because it is absolutely an education, communications, PR, marketing campaigns. It’s all that and then some.

JTP

You can learn more about Majora Carter and her work as an urban revitalization strategist online at majoracartergroup.com. For the Joy Trip Project, this is James Mills.

New music this week by Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps

The Joy Trip Project is brought to you thank to generous support of our sponsors Recreational Equipment Inc. and Patagonia. We don’t take money from just anyone. Sponsors of the Joy Trip Project support our mission of an active lifestyle through outdoor recreation and community involvement. Support us by supporting them. Find links to their web sites on ours at JoyTripProject.com.

Thanks for listening. But you know we want to hear from you so please drops us message by email at info@joytripproject.com. Or find us on Facebook. Share your pictures, your stories, share your passions for outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving, and practices of sustainable living. You just might inspire our next Joy Trip together. But most of all don’t forget to tell your friends.

Blair Underwood does an amazing job of illustrating a social phenomenon that I’ve experience through much of my personal and professional life. Anyone who spends time recreating outdoors will likely notice the conspicuous absences of minorities, blacks, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Islanders take your pick. People of color are seldom seen hiking, climbing, skiing,  bird watching, whatever. The reasons why are numerous, but among them sometimes is the conspicuousness of our presence.

It’s not uncommon to feel as if everyone we encounter is watching our every move. There always seems to be a question as to how we find ourselves in these wild and scenic places as if to say, “You clearly don’t belong here.” No matter how benign or well intended the curiosity, these  gawking stares are intrusive, making the observed feel self-conscious to the point of distraction. When it happens too frequently one might find themselves asking “Why do I even bother. I am not welcome here.”

Apart from the common challenges of outdoor recreation, the altitude, the weather, rugged terrain, stinging insects and the like, people of color must also face the uncertainty of those they might encounter. There’s always this underlying fear of what the people we meet in the wild might do or say to make us feel uncomfortable, even more vulnerable than circumstances warrant. With no true belief that we will be treated equally, minorities may well be inclined to stay away from the beautiful wilderness areas that bring joy, health and vitality to so many.

But despite what we perceive in the behavior of others, we have to get past it. This psychological burier we erect in our minds is just one more thing in outdoor recreation we have to get over. Just has we must get over a fear of heights, a fear of fast moving water, a fear of wild animals. We must also get over our fear of white folks. Although our fears and apprehensions may have been forged legitimately in the racially motivated violence and segregation of the not so distant past, the modern world now affords people of color the opportunity to venture out and explore nature with a new sense of freedom and self-ascribed confidence. The mountains we have yet to climb are not only the granite peaks of the Sierras, the Rockies or even the Himalayas. Our greatest adventures lie in our aspirations to defeat our fears and claim our human right to live our lives to their fullest.

Special thanks to Rue Mapp of Outdoor Afro for bringing this video to my attention

Back in January of 2009 I had the pleasure of speaking to Ken Burns. He sat with me for an interview about his new film “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Premiering September 27th on PBS television stations this documentary reveals in stunning detail some amazing historical facts. But what came out of that conversation was an awareness for legacy people of color played in the creation of some my favorite wild and scenic places.

At the turn of 20th century more than 400 members of the 9th and 10th Divisions of the U.S. Cavalry, African-Americans know as the Buffalo Soldiers, actively patrolled the newly designated National Parks of Yellowstone, Yosemite and Sequoia. These men performed many of the same duties tasked today to the National Park Service. The Buffalo Soldiers were in effect among the world’s first park rangers.

But over the last 100 years African-Americans and other minority groups have had few opportunities to visit the National Parks. Practices of racial discrimination and

institutional segregation restricted most people of color to cities across America. And even after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s made it possible for minorities to roam freely throughout the county, persistent memory of past injustices and the loss of outdoor recreation traditions had made full integration of our National Parks difficult to this day.

How ironic it is that so few African-Americans visit the very parks their ancestors helped to create. This  piece produced for the Public Radio International program To The Best of Our Knowledge tell the history of the Buffalo Soldiers and shares the meaning behind their enduring legacy.

Many thanks to Recreational Equipment Inc. for their support in the production of this story.

]]> http://joytripproject.org/blog/2009/09/26/the-buffalo-soldiers/feed/ 5 - Back in January of 2009 I had the pleasure of speaking to Ken Burns. He sat with me for an interview about his new film "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." Premiering September 27th on PBS television stations this documentary reveals in stu... Back in January of 2009 I had the pleasure of speaking to Ken Burns. He sat with me for an interview about his new film "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." Premiering September 27th on PBS television stations this documentary reveals in stunning detail some amazing historical facts. But what came out of that conversation was an awareness for legacy people of color played in the creation of some my favorite wild and scenic places. At the turn of 20th century more than 400 members of the 9th and 10th Divisions of the U.S. Cavalry, African-Americans know as the Buffalo Soldiers, actively patrolled the newly designated National Parks of Yellowstone, Yosemite and Sequoia. These men performed many of the same duties tasked today to the National Park Service. The Buffalo Soldiers were in effect among the world's first park rangers. But over the last 100 years African-Americans and other minority groups have had few opportunities to visit the National Parks. Practices of racial discrimination and institutional segregation restricted most people of color to cities across America. And even after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s made it possible for minorities to roam freely throughout the county, persistent memory of past injustices and the loss of outdoor recreation traditions had made full integration of our National Parks difficult to this day. How ironic it is that so few African-Americans visit the very parks their ancestors helped to create. This  piece produced for the Public Radio International program To The Best of Our Knowledge tell the history of the Buffalo Soldiers and shares the meaning behind their enduring legacy. Many thanks to Recreational Equipment Inc. for their support in the production of this story. James Edward Mills clean 12:27 http://joytripproject.org/blog/2009/09/26/diversity-rocks/ http://joytripproject.org/blog/2009/09/26/diversity-rocks/#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 05:29:30 +0000 joytripproject http://joytripproject.org/blog/?p=1318

Pity all National Park Service, Nature Conservancy or US Fish & Wildlife conferences don’t conclude with a massive bar tab and a soul train line at one in morning. The new generation of environmental activists is dynamic, diverse and determined to breath fresh energy into the preservation of our wild and scenic places. Who says they can’t have a good time while they’re at it?

Photo by James Edward Mills

See the unfolding photostream at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nwsr8th/sets/72157622325056863/

In the middle of the last century, Carolyn Finney grew up on a wooded estate in Manhattan. Though not a child of privilege, this professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley recalls fond memories exploring the wild places on the property her father managed for a wealthy landowner. As the only African-American family in this affluent community Finney also remembers feeling less than welcome in this setting surrounded by nature. “It was not natural for us to be there,” she said.

As the keynote speaker in the second day of programs during the “Breaking the Color Barrier to the Great Outdoors” conference in Atlanta, Finney shared her memories of a life in wilderness tainted by the racially motivated injustices of our past. “Those memories continue today,” she said. “And for a lot of people memory is truth.”

Despite institutional changes brought about by the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s people of color today endure a legacy of discrimination that barred our passage to and enjoyment of the recreation areas that many whites have been privileged to enjoy for centuries. Although there are no restrictions that deny minorities access to nature, past memories of exclusion persist today as truth and collectively we stay away.

In her remarks to those gathered to discuss the future of wilderness preservation she referenced the preamble to the Constitution, which reads “We the people of the United States of America in order to form a more prefect union…” Finney acknowledged that the framers of that document at the time did not include people of color.

But by embracing the indiscriminant virtues of recreation in natural settings today Finney says we can become a generation that envisions new memories, an undeniable truth with a brighter future.

“We are offered an opportunity to see differently,” she said. “I refuse to not participate in the change we need in this world. I look around this room and I can see that WE are the people now.”

Photo by James Edward Mills

Appointed in 1997 Robert G. Stanton was the first African-American Director of the National Parks Service. Today he is the deputy assistant secretary of policy and program management in the U.S. Department of Interior. As the keystone speaker and a panelist during the Breaking the Color Barrier to the Great Outdoor Conference in Atlanta, he inspired a new generation of young people to continue a long legacy of service to the principles of environmental conservation and the preservation of wilderness.

Outdoor diversity advocates Franks and Audrey Peterman welcomed a unique gathering of their peers to the city of Atlanta. A few hundred individuals from across the country, mostly African-Americans met to express their love and appreciation for nature  in the opening session of the Breaking the Color Barrier to the Great Outdoors conference.

In her remarks Audrey Peterman shared a common observation with those assembled . “Frank and I would visit these wonderful National Parks and we would see so few people of color,” she said.”We wanted to do something about it. But rather than complaining about the dark sometimes you have to light a candle. And all of you are that light.”

The Conference promises to address a number of the issues and circumstances that prevent more minorities from taking advantage of the wild and natural settings available to them.  A complete schedule of speakers and programs continues through September 26th. Please continue to check into this blog for further updates and details.

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