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Getting Into Nature. Not So Easy For Some

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Dixie Swenson

Feb 4, 2022

United States

Categories:

Nature, Children, Learning, Reading, African-American

Getting out of our urban cacophony and into peaceful nature can be among the great pleasures of life. But does everyone know of the opportunity?


In an article in Outside magazine, in September 2020, Allison Braden wrote of the discomfort many Black people feel in the outdoors. She also wrote about an opportunity to make a change over time. And, like many solutions, it starts with children.


When professor and children's book critic Michelle Martin announced that she wanted to move to California to pursue outdoor education, her mother was skeptical. She was like, "Black people have been trying to get out of the woods for generations. Why are you going into the woods? It's not a safe place." A very recent example is the Central Park African American birder who a white woman verbally attacked for birding in the park. Thankfully, he did not get arrested or charged.


Despite her mom's concern, Martin went west in the late eighties. Michelle Martin is now a professor at the University of Washington's Information School. Her research draws attention to the absence of Black protagonists in children's books about nature. "If you have a diverse diet of books that introduce you to all kinds of different ways of being," Martin says, "you develop more empathy. It prepares you to be a better citizen of the world."


Children's literature scholar Rudine Sims Bishop famously wrote that books serve as "windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors." "They let young readers understand others, see themselves, and escape into other worlds as they build an identity and locate themselves in our planet's tangle of life. But researchers have identified an alarming lack of books about Black children in nature.


Blueberries for Sal was a favorite book for Martin's daughter. "We probably wouldn't have thought about going to the country to pick blueberries if it hadn't been for that book," Martin says. "It's the same thing with being outdoors. If it's not portrayed as a possibility, then it makes it harder for you to see yourself doing that."


Connecting children to nature is critical to building affinity and supporting conservation and preservation ethics as adults. Responsible recreation is mentally and physically healthy and helps us cope with urban stress. But we have to be shown how. There are African-American-based recreation groups, such as Afro Hikers and Black Birders. Invite them to your local schools and ask them to participate in nature outings.


Sponsor creative writing contests around nature activities. Local organizations, such as writer's groups, neighborhood associations, local government, and businesses are good sponsors and mentors to consider.


It does take a village to raise a child. (Some believe that this philosophy came from Nigeria's Igbo and Yoruba people, which is fundamental to many African cultures.) What will you do for your village today?


Photo by Nathaniel Ramirez on Unsplash

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0122.105.01.020422

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