Here's a Mapp

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Sometime in August 2023 a meeting of the minds happened in the grove deep in San Francisco’s Golden Gate park. We, the audience, were surrounded by redwood trees, sunlight and birds. The tallest of the redwoods held the sunlight back and the room between them created a breeze to remind us that full and intentional listening was required. The small audience nestled underneath them awaiting our journey into the discussion about “Nature Swagger”.

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The founder of Outdoor Afro and author of “Nature Swagger” Rue Mapp was in a discussion with Phil Gingsburg, director of San Francisco’s Parks and Recreation.

The talk made me think about my connection to the outdoors and hiking as she answered why she wanted more Black people to connect with nature. Rue explained her philosophical beliefs that the reason more Black people didn't get outdoors was perception of not having enough time.

I understood this to mean having free time that didn't involve driving kids to practice or the overwhelming exhaustion of being in a rut. My definition of “enough time” is limited to my own understanding that not everyone has the same hours in the day, regardless of what the Internet memes or influencers would have us to believe.

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When Rue created Outdoor Afro in 2009 the road was right in front of her. I believe listening to her she understood there were others behind her as well. Rue explained she needed to create something new and use her own experiences to forge a path.

That day in the middle of the grove, I also met a man that raised cattle and owned a slaughter house. It was in that moment of the discussion, that I remembered there are some experiences that people have to be introduced to in order for them to experience them. Rue explained her experiences of hunting and learning the difficulty of hunting, shooting and killing a deer was an invitation that opened the world opened up to her.

Somewhere in that discussion about her journey, I understood just as Rue did in her role and purpose of creating Outdoor Afro. She was forging a new path which meant saying yes to the possibility that someone else was watching. She understood that someone else was coming up behind her. For women such as herself to create something it means there is possible way not to walk through that door. It wouldn’t be the same journey that got her there for the next person but would bring us [Black Americans] closer and possibly back to nature.