This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I wanted to reflect on my own privilege and the privileges of being a white, able-bodied, english-speaking birder in the United States.
- When I go into nature, I feel safe.
- When I go birding, most of the people there look like me.
- When I see police or rangers, I do not feel threatened.
- I have the time, transportation and resources I need to go birding.
- The signage is all in a language that is my first language.
- All trails are accessible to me.
- People do not confuse me with the other white woman who birds.
- Most of the experts and professionals in ornithology look like me.
- Most of the historically significant people in our field, that I have heard of, look like me.
- Representation of birders in media and advertising depicts people who look like me.
- I feel like I belong automatically.
While the birds don't care what color you are, race still has an impact in the birding community because we live in a systematically, institutionally and in some places overtly racist society.
In college, a professor explained it with an analogy. If you live in the United States, you are basically on a giant invisible moving sidewalk, which represents institutional racism. Some people run forward, these folks are overtly racist. But even if you just stand still, you are perpetuating racism. Running in the opposite direction is anti-racism. It means investing in, following, and lifting up Black voices. It means dismantling the systems and institutions in place and rebuilding them so they work for everyone. It means examining yourself and acknowledging your own implicit bias and privilege.
IDEA is an acronym that stands for inclusion, diversity, equity and access. These are some of the components we must work on, in the Birding community, the Environmental Science field as a whole and everywhere else. (I first found these descriptions found on Indiana's gov page, but I have seen them replicated in a lot of places.)
Inclusion: All feel welcomed and valued
Inclusion is the act of creating environments in which any individual or group can be and feel welcomed, respected, represented, supported, and valued to fully participate.
Diversity: All the ways we differ
Diversity includes all of the ways in which people differ, encompassing the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another. While diversity is often used in reference to race, ethnicity, and gender, we embrace a broader definition that also includes age, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, education, marital status, language, physical appearance, geography, and any other identifiers that make one individual or group different from another.
Equity: All having the opportunity to fully participate
Equity encompasses the policies and practices used to ensure the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all people, while at the same time trying to identify and eliminate barriers that have historically prevented the full participation of some individuals or groups.
Access: Of any and all abilities
Access refers to the commitment for everyone to be included in all programs and activities.
This video from Dr. J. Drew Lanham gives a humorous take on some "Rules for the Black Birdwatcher:"
Some info about Dr. J. Drew Lanham, from wikipedia, "Joseph Drew Lanham is an American author, poet and wildlife biologist. Raised in Edgefield, South Carolina, Lanham studied zoology and ecology at Clemson University, where he earned a PhD in 1997 and where he currently holds an endowed chair as an Alumni Distinguished Professor. He is a board member of several conservation organizations, including the South Carolina Wildlife Federation, Audubon South Carolina, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, BirdNote, and the American Birding Association, and an advisory board member for the North American Association of Environmental Education. In 2019 he was awarded the National Audubon Society's Dan W. Lufkin Prize for Environmental Leadership, recognizing "individuals who have dedicated their entire lives to the environment."
This article, "9 Rules for the Black Female Birdwatcher," written by Sheridan Alford, one of the co-founders of #blackbirdersweek, along with Kaylee Arnold, PhD student of ecology, was inspired by Dr. Lanham's article/video. Corina Newsome, the other co-founder and Black ornithologist, was recently featured in this news article about how birds are a great tool to build a more equitable world, saying:
“Biodiversity in the natural world is a really good model for why diversity of people is very important when it comes to conservation, education, community engagement.”
#blackbirdersweek was created in response to an incident in 2020 in which a Black birder, Christian Cooper, was unjustly reported to the police by a white woman, Amy Cooper (no releation) while out birding in Central Park. The woman threatened to call the police on Christian after he asked her to leash her dog, saying "“I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” In no way did Christian actually threaten her, he simply asked her to obey the law and leash her dog which was scaring the birds he wanted to watch. The police responded and left, and she was charged with filing a false police report but the charges were later dropped. But this could have gone very differently. This incident happened on the same exact day as the murder of George Floyd - May 25, 2020.
This video, viewed 40 million times, depicts an example of why Black birders may not feel safe and how much more work needs to be done.
I see five key steps for white birders:
1. Acknowledge that we are mostly a white group and that needs to change. Our country is increasingly diverse and we cannot solve a problem that effects everyone without meaningful engagement of everyone affected. Environmental justice and social justice are linked.
2. Reflect on your own Personal Identity, Privilege, and Biases. Read books about anti-racism, take a course or workshop, journal and acknowledge the ways your skin color benefits you. This is a good tool to start with. Check yourself for micro-aggressions or assumptions you might be making.
3. Donate to and participate in organizations that make birding more Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable and Accessible. If you are in a mostly white birding group, ask them what their IDEA plan is, what their marketing plan is, who are the Black speakers they have lined up, how are they helping young Black birders and other kids of color.
4. Follow the lead of Black birders and organizations that support Black outdoor recreation. Learn about groups like Outdoor Afro, Vibe Tribe Adventures, Amplify the Future, and more. Find out what needs to change and voice your support. Donate, volunteer, share info.
5. Protect Black birders from the police, especially Black men and boys. If you witness a confrontation between a Black birder and the police, a security guard, or even just an individual, pay attention and speak up to defend that person's right to bird. If police are present, film them and insist the officer's identify themselves for the recording. Far too many unarmed Black men and boys have been murdered by police, and if White people don't speak up, who can?
This is my current understanding, but I am confident that I am missing important steps, other needed actions and resources. I appreciate input from others and will update this post with any info I receive. Please comment on this post or write to me (tinadudleyva at gmail) with any feedback or other links I can add. Thank you.
Organizations of interest:
https://vibetribeadventures.org/
https://freedombirders.org/get-involved/
Sources:
https://diversity.lbl.gov/idea-strategic-framework/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S5uckFHCA_XZkxG0Zg5U4GQGbY_RklZARwu43fqJH0E/edit
https://www.in.gov/arts/programs-and-services/resources/inclusion-diversity-equity-and-access-idea/
https://www.clemson.edu/cafls/faculty_staff/profiles/lanhamj
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