Species name:

• Little Black girl. Latin: Parva nigra puella

• Jamaican-Canadian

Average size:

• About 4 and a half feet tall and young enough to believe in mermaids.

The relationship between Black people and the outdoors is a fragmented one, camping and other outdoor activities are generally seen as White areas. In his 2019 article “Being a Shark,” Phillip Dwight Morgan delves into these feelings of Black unbelonging in the wilderness, he writes: “Our knowledge, much like the clothing we are shown wearing, is unapologetically urban and, therefore, alien to this particular vision of nature. There’s a subtle but clear message here, the messaging of absence, working in tandem with these stereotypes to tell us that we are not only gangsters, but gangsters unwelcome in Canadian wilderness” (Morgan). Black people have been depicted as savage and primitive, as though we belong in jungles and zoos, and yet so many Black Canadians have a strained relationship with nature and the wilderness. The freedom and exploration that come with the northern forests have been depicted as merely “White people things” (Morgan). Most Black Canadians have two reactions to the idea of camping: laughter and making jokes at the idea of doing activities usually associated with White people; and fear— of the unknown and being a Black person in the woods. 

Rarity:

• Extremely endangered. Never seen in the wilderness.

Years of separation leave quite a gap to be filled. A 2021 study by Erin Eck from Yale University describes various possible reasons for this gap, quoting Anderson she states that: “Black hikers draw an important distinction between hiking as a White activity and the trail as a White space (Finney, 2014; Anderson, 2015) that must be navigated with caution by Black hikers. Anderson defines the White space as a ‘perceptual category,’ ‘a situation that reinforces a normative sensibility in settings in which black people are typically absent, not expected, or marginalized when present’” (qtd. in Eck 5).  The idea of nature-based leisure activities as a White space has been prevalent for a long time. Especially since the “norm” of the typical hiker/outdoorsman is a White, fit, cisgendered, middle- to upper-class man, as they were the ones who had time and money for leisure. As Black people separated and created an identity outside of White people’s, much of this was rejected and left behind as a “White people thing” (Morgan). However, this alone doesn’t account for the large racial disparities surrounding “nature-based recreation” (Eck 4). Many Black people are interested, as seen in Dwight’s article, and numerous Instagram accounts focus on getting or supporting marginalized people who enjoy or want to experience the outdoors. It’s not only Black people who feel unwelcome or are rarely seen in these spaces; people with disabilities, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, plus-sized, people of different religions, or women are all part of those who feel unwelcome. When they try, they feel the need to justify their existence within these spaces. This disconnect becomes harder to bridge as we get older. 

Habitat:

• Most likely to be found in urban areas. Often in “Little Jamaica,” helping her mom pick out breadfruits and yams. To be found in Parry Sound is very rare. Will most likely have trouble adapting.

There are organizations dedicated to helping marginalized communities cross this bridge, and their difference from those unspecific about the communities they serve (supposedly everyone) is stark. Eck’s research illustrates that Instagram accounts that were focused on these communities concentrated on individual experiences. They posted more about how to get started and things newcomers needed to know (instead of assuming awareness), posted photos of people who “looked like them” to have clear representation, and discussed building a sense of community so no one felt alone or like an outlier. Those who didn’t have a specific audience projected a certain “colour-blindness” with nature. They focused their photos on landscapes rather than people, and (mostly) if people were featured, their photos were obscure, likely from a distance or covered in gear, making it impossible to distinguish their race. (However, most models were White, with an occasional Black person.) This is meant to project being one with nature as a human experience (Eck 18-20). But one form of representation doesn’t equal representation for all. Posting about Black experiences once a year/whenever it is trendy and not for the rest of the year does not make you inclusive. These institutions rarely (if ever) post about trail etiquette or experiences, portraying the idea that they expect this to be common knowledge, but as seen in Morgan’s article, that is not the case. “[S]tudents mobilized an entire wilderness vernacular that revolved around Thoreau, the Group of Seven, campfires, and portaging. As you can imagine, they were genuinely shocked to hear that I’d only been in a canoe once before during a grade six trip and that I had no knowledge of the Canadian landscape painter Lawren Harris.” This can be extremely discouraging for those who’ve always been distant from nature and can add to already prevalent feelings of unbelonging. Eck’s research found no evidence illustrating a lack of interest or cultural/value differences surrounding nature. It is not just people from the Black community who feel excluded, but those who have yet to see people who look like them as “adventurers, explorers, park rangers, or zoologists” (Morgan) in the media. Though many would like to say nature doesn’t see colour, the people in nature do. There is a predominant culture surrounding outdoor activity, one that people of colour aren’t a part of. 

State:

• Flowering; can be found singing camp songs, falling in love with the smell of damp Earth, screaming at the sight of watersnakes, and whispering with her cabinmates after bedtime.

During my time at camp, I made friends, learned songs I sing to this day, and made memories I’ll carry with me forever. I became friends with a spider my friends and I named George Washington; I won best camper (and wore that shirt for years until it no longer fit and the words faded); I roasted marshmallows; I went to Powwows (or the White version of them anyway). Morgan almost became a shark; he trained for a half-marathon; he nearly stepped on a snake (practically unfazed); and he biked across Canada. We are here, we are interested, and we interact with nature in our own ways. But there is a feeling of being an outsider in more ways than one, and many just need encouragement to get out there. A sense of community is crucial to the diversity of the Great White North.