(gentle music) - I'm Alison Mariella Désir and I'm here in Seward Park, the native lands of the coast Salish peoples.

The outdoors has not always been a welcoming place for everyone.

Due to historical and present racism and discrimination, there's been a lack of representation and diverse perspectives in the imagery and conversations concerning the outdoors.

Many outdoor activities have been gatekept, vis-a-vis membership fees, expensive equipment, land restrictions, and discriminatory rules and regulations.

These barriers have prevented opportunities for marginalized communities to get outdoors and partake in activities.

Today I'm sharing stories of changemakers in the Pacific Northwest who are breaking down those barriers, reclaiming space in the outdoors, and creating opportunities for BIPOC communities in the region to find joy and healing.

(inspirational music) (gentle upbeat music) Seward Park is home to the Seward Park Audubon Center, which sits right behind me.

The namesake of the organization, John James Audubon, is the author of the seminal work, "The Birds of America," a collection of 435 life-size prints that remains a standard against which 20th and 21st century bird artists are measured.

But Audubon was a complex and troubling character who did despicable things, even by the standards of his day.

He enslaved Black people and wrote critically about emancipation.

He stole human remains and sent the skulls to a colleague who used them to assert that whites were superior to non-whites.

Birdwatching was never on my radar, that is until 2020 when Christian Cooper, a Black birder, was harassed in Central Park by a racist white woman.

It was yet another example of Black people being harassed or killed for doing ordinary, mundane things, for daring to exist in the world.

I met with Armand Lucas, an environmental scientist, globetrotter and birder from the Bronx.

Despite the racist origins of his favorite pastime and the all-too common interruptions of racist encounters, Armand has been able to develop a deep love for birdwatching.

He credits the support of his family who fostered his curiosity about the natural world.

(gentle music) (geese honking) - I feel that we're so disconnected from nature, and I feel like when I'm birdwatching, birds are kind of my anchor back into the natural space because I find that I'm listening more, I'm much more calm, much more at peace.

There's been hard times in my life where going out with my spotting scope and just being by myself and watching rough-legged hawks and short-eared owls and rare ducks that are appearing here in the wintertime is all that I needed.

I think it's a real great anchor, you know, anchor to the soul.

(gentle music continues) (wings flapping) (birds whistling) I first started birdwatching, definitely when my grandfather, he was always excited about nature, and when I was a kid, he would share PBS episodes of nature with me.

He would prerecord them and I'd come to his back room and sometimes we'd watch for hours, and birds were always a big excitement for us to see.

And as I got older, I remember in the Bronx, in Parkchester where I grew up, there was a red-tailed hawk that was in the neighborhood and it was hunting all the squirrels in the neighborhood.

I went out with my grandfather and we actually took a photo of it and I remember everyone in the neighborhood, there was like a myth that it got, it was escaped from the zoo.

People didn't realize that it actually was just a wild red-tailed hawk in the area doing what it does.

But I remember after that my mother saw the interest that I had in birds, and after that, she bought me Sibley guides and Kaufman guides in these animal fact files and I would spend hours reading about them, about their wingspan, about how they lived their life, where they migrate, and so it just took off from there.

(gentle music) There's a huge bird watching community.

There's like, people are very open about, when I go out, people are always asking, "What did you see you see?"

Or sharing what they saw, so it's a really, a warm community, generally.

- I have to say, this is one of my favorite things about this show because you're mentioning this birdwatching community that to me feels like it must be underground because I'm so unfamiliar with it, but that's so beautiful.

It's like a thriving space.

- Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, birdwatching is one of the largest hobbies in America.

- Birdwatchers, birders are always excited to get more folks into the activity, but what would you say are some of the things that keep people out?

- There have been many times that I've gone to wild places and birdwatching where I've been singled out.

People have, there's bad apples out there, people who don't find people of color, or Black people in a neighborhood as a threat or as a potential, very suspicious.

And so I've confronted that several times going very, you know, earnestly just out birdwatching, looking for a specific bird near a neighborhood and finding that people are concerned that I'm there.

I've rarely had those experiences, but they do happen.

They do happen, absolutely.

They're exogenous things that definitely make people feel uncomfortable in wild spaces.

I'm really grateful and fortunate to have my parents, my grandfather, who so like engendered that interest and I think more people need to do that.

Like if their children have like a curiosity that's not their own, find ways to engender it or get them connected to the right people to kind of ignite that fire because I think a lot of, especially kids who grow up in the inner city, don't have that exposure.

- All right, so we're here in Seward Park.

What are the steps to birdwatching?

- Well, birdwatching only requires, well, first requires us to be a good listeners.

I think when I start birdwatching, when I get out of my car, I usually find a quiet trail, especially in a place here in like Seward Park that has really old, mature trees, and I'm listening for birds.

I'm looking for swift movements in the trees, and just letting the birds come to me sometimes, or I look out and listen for a bird and kind of chase them a little bit, but it's a lot of patience and a lot of listening and hopefully you get to see a really great bird.

When you see a bird in the canopy or on a branch or in a shrub, look directly at it and then bring the binoculars to your eyes and then focus, use that main focus dial to see the bird clearly.

- Patience is the name of the game.

- Yeah, patience, serendipity, but most of all, it's just an enjoyable experience.

- As somebody who's grown up playing sports and always gone outside with intention, I have to relearn that idea.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) Oh my gosh.

Oh wow, they're actually like really pretty.

- Yeah, this is an American wigeon.

- Oh my goodness.

Wow.

Okay, they just went off.

- There's gadwall too.

- Beautiful, oh my gosh.

Hi, little guys.

- There's a powerful quote from James Burrow and he says, "We always have nature with us.

It appeals to the mind, it warms the heart, and brings us joy and fires the imagination," and that's how I feel when I see birds.

(gentle music) - I grew up listening to Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" song, reciting the lyrics, but having no idea what they meant.

Who were the Buffalo Soldiers?

Why didn't I learn about them in school?

I know now, of course, that schools teach incomplete history.

Most often, the stories of Black people are omitted and erased, despite their immeasurable value.

The Buffalo Soldiers were six all-African American United States Army regiments formed during the 19th century to serve on the American frontier.

The Buffalo Soldiers were composed of former slaves, free men and Black Civil War soldiers.

They were also among the first protectors of what would eventually become national parks, including Sequoia and Yosemite in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Despite their service to the country, they were still treated as second-class citizens.

Geordan Newbill, President of the Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle, and Jerome Young of Legends Horse Training and Boarding Facility want to connect present-day audience to the rich history of African Americans in this country.

They work to preserve, teach and uplift the stories of the Buffalo Soldiers through education, workshops, and horse riding, shining a light on the past and providing a hopeful path to the future.

(acoustic guitar music) - But in between slavery and Martin Luther King, Black people were doing amazing things in this country.

We're inventing things, had cities, towns with doctors, lawyers, hospitals, community centers, grocery stores, all type of amazing things that aren't taught.

This is another thing that we like to say within our Buffalo Soldier organization.

You don't know where you're going unless you know where you came from.

And a lot of people in our community are walking around lost 'cause they don't know where they're going.

They don't know where they came from.

(energetic music) (horse hooves clomping) Growing up, my uncle, he was one of the founding members of this organization, Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle.

My uncle owned horses my whole life and he would call, 'Hey, Geordan, we're going out to the ranch today."

Or, "Hey, we have a Buffalo Soldier event."

And I'm like, "Yes, come get me.

I wanna go, let's go, let's do it."

The horse bug, the history bug, it just bit me.

It was just something that I was always drawn to.

Out of all my friends, out of all my family, it was me.

(gentle music) So yesterday we went and did the Seattle Seafair Torchlight Parade.

It's the biggest parade in the city.

Our organization, the Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle, we do parades, festivals, we go to schools and we teach the history of the Buffalo Soldiers.

So yesterday we had a parade.

We had about maybe 50 of us out there.

We had about 20 of us mounted up on horses.

We had a wagon with a bunch of the kids and the elders.

We had our cadets on horseback.

And then just our whole support system from the Buffalo Soldiers and from Legends was just out there as one big family doing what we do.

It would be an injustice if we didn't share and spread and let people know.

If you wanna get into this and do a thing where there's a beautiful place, out in Roy, people are very warm and welcoming and you can go out there and learn too.

- Well, speaking of, I am going to ride a horse today.

- That's the plan.

- Tell me, what are we gonna do.

- Oh, it's gonna be crazy.

You're gonna get on that horse and you're gonna smash around.

- Okay, I don't know about that.

(laughing) - You're gonna feel what we feel when you get on that horse.

You're gonna be like, okay, now I see what these guys and gals have been talking about.

(acoustic guitar strumming) (horse hooves clomping) All right, Alison, we're about to start your riding lesson.

We'll bring you over here to Jerome, the outlaw, owner of Legends, fellow Buffalo Soldier.

Good luck with your lesson.

- Thank you.

- You're gonna have a ton of fun.

- Thanks so much, Geordan.

So you are the owner of Legends Ranch.

You are a Black man.

Tell me a little bit about this place and how you got it.

- You know, there's a few of us out here, not many in Washington with ranches of this size.

We do have some top riders that are Black right now, but it's been a work in progress to get us to get to this level.

But, you know, we've grown, Legends has grown considerably.

And look at that, you're here.

Anyway, I'm gonna put you on this seven-year-old.

She's a Friesian cross mare, and again, she hasn't killed anybody in a few months at least.

(Alison laughing) So our job is to make you feel comfortable and get you on this horse and teach you the basics.

You're left, you're right, how to stop the horse.

And then we'll progress on and see if we can't get you into a fun game that we play out here.

(playful acoustic guitar music) (horse hooves clomping) You're gonna need these reins 'cause that is what's gonna help you control the horse, so if you wanna turn left, you're gonna reach down and you're gonna pull the left.

If you wanna turn right, you're gonna reach down farther and you're gonna pull the right.

- Okay.

- So remember, if you do pull left, you have to let the right hand go.

And if you pull right, you have to let the left hand go.

- Okay.

- So you're gonna keep walking.

You give a little bump with your feet.

Yep, keep on going, right on around.

All the way around me.

So pick your hands up and hold, there you go, like that.

- Okay.

- [Jerome] Now your job is to continue this horse moving.

- Okay.

- Harder right, harder right, that a girl, perfect.

Now quick left and then you're gonna come, yeah, keep moving.

Keep moving.

- Okay.

- Okay, now you're gonna say ho.

- Ho.

- Oh yeah, here comes the posse right here.

- [Alison] Oh, it showed up.

- The posse is coming.

- The real deal.

- All right, so the first game we're gonna play, and they're gonna come in and start getting warmed up, is left turn, right turn.

First one to turn their horse as fast as you possibly can.

- Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

(Alison laughing) - My God.

- It was faster.

- Unfortunately, the three-time national champion did a circle and walked away while you were still turning.

Right turn go, you're already going, you got it.

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

Oh yes!

I think we got one for real.

Yeah!

That's what I'm talking about.

All the way back, yep, just like that.

You're gonna slide all the way back, all the way straight back.

Straight, straight, let go.

(both laughing) Thank you, Jerome.

You're awesome.

- I'm so happy you guys came out.

- I'll be back.

- And you got a chance to share what I share every single day.

When this turns into work, I quit.

Right now it's not work, we just have a lot of fun and I think that is probably why people like to come back and come and enjoy this with us.

- For sure.

- Soon as it turns into work, you're not gonna find me on it.

You'll be like, I tried to go to Legends, Jerome quit.

Please everybody put your hands up and say hey.

Legend!

- Legend!

- This is how we do it out here.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle music) - Of all the activities I've tried on this show, swimming scares me the most.

Despite the opportunity to take lessons as a child, I've never truly felt comfortable in the water and the threat of drowning is always there.

For many Black people in the United States, swimming comes with a history of trauma and exclusion that has resulted in staggering statistics.

Nearly 60% of Black kids of the United States do not know how to swim, and Black kids drown at over three times the rate of white kids.

There's several factors responsible for this, including institutional racism, myths and stereotypes about our bodies, and generational trauma.

However, there are bright spots like Chandrika Francis, the founder of Oshun Swim School.

Her work centers on communities that have been historically excluded from swim environments and for whom swim skills are most essential.

Through healing-centered and trauma-informed courses and workshops, Oshun Swim School strives to build a safer space for BIPOC women and non-binary people to explore their relationship with water and grow into embodied, joyful swimmers.

(gentle music) - This is what you do for treading water, so what it looks like is like you're spreading better with your fingers closed.

That gives you more resistance.

Start the breathing in the mouth, out the nose.

In the mouth, out the nose.

- Retraining.

- Yeah, it's hard for runners, but you'll get there.

In the mouth, out the nose.

Good, keep those arms moving, that'll warm us up.

Swimming is so much about understanding ourself, being able to grow in your relationship with yourself around being responsive to fear and how to hold that tenderly, but also leading with curiosity.

And it's really just this beautiful opportunity to grow into the way you show up for yourself when you're afraid.

Swim lessons in that sort of traditional way was never really where I felt super, it was just something I did.

Where I really had my love of water was going swimming in the ocean, in the rivers and lakes.

(gentle acoustic guitar music) And I grew up in the Bay Area and so we would go out to the Pacific Ocean and that was always my favorite.

That was always my birthday, like we're going to the beach and we would just be tossed around in the waves.

- That sounds like terrifying.

- Yeah, I'm actually more afraid now than I was as a kid.

It was just like, I don't know which way's up and down, wee.

Both my parents have a strong connection to water in different ways and it was just always like if there's water, of course we're gonna go in.

- You mentioned that sort of like the traditional environments didn't work for you.

So when you built Oshun Swim School, what were you, in what ways were you trying to make sure that you created a safe, healing, powerful space?

- Swimming is taught as a sport and as a race and so a lot of it's about how can you go the fastest, the furthest, like these very like competitive ways of learning and existing.

And really swimming, that's one element of swimming, which is very valid and there's just so many other ways of enjoying the water.

I remember being really cold, not wanting to have to deal with my hair.

- Yes.

- And not have to damage my hair and not have to deal with any conversations around the swim instructors who didn't know what to do with my hair.

And also just feeling like it was just like a constant race.

So I think that as I've been developing Oshun Swim School, it just feels completely different than that in so many ways.

We're really focusing on the relationship between each person and the water and understanding how our bodies exist in water.

- What does the experience of swimming feel like to you?

- To me, swimming just feels like a really, like a deep exhale.

(gentle music) Like I get under water and it's just like finally.

Everything becomes more magical.

The sounds become quiet.

It's just like you enter into this other realm.

It's just always available.

And I feel like with swimming, it can be so many different things too.

Sometimes it's just so playful and it just brings out that play in everyone around you.

The hope with my work is just having more and more Black women, folks of color feel safe and feel free and feel joy because when those things happen, everything else is possible.

When you take that big breath in, wanna see when you float up on the noodle higher, versus when you exhale.

(breath whooshing) Right?

That's like a huge difference.

So if you're finding yourself lower in the water than you wanna be, taking that breath in will be a big change.

So I'll show you, for me, I'm trying to do a back float and I don't have a big breath and I don't, and I have my arms down, this is where I'm gonna be.

(water bubbling) - There you go.

- So, and then some things we can work with is our breath, so I'm gonna take a big breath in and then I'm also gonna spread my arms above to counteract my legs.

(water sloshing) So, and that's really just me holding my breath so you can just lean your head back, I'm gonna bring under your knees.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) Put your hands in the water.

Good.

(gentle music) We're not just learning how to swim, we are really reconnecting with our ancestors and it's powerful and that power a lot of times really helps us work through fear.

(gentle music) - These individuals are just a few of the countless changemakers who are working to make the outdoors a welcoming and inclusive space for Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

Breaking down barriers of racism and discrimination, these changemakers are creating a path for us to find joy, healing, and a sense of belonging in nature.

To continue this work, it's crucial that we amplify opportunities, share information, and witness firsthand the diverse representation of people from all backgrounds embarking on unique outdoor adventures.

The outdoors is a human right, not a privilege.

(gentle music continues) Just as Chandrika Francis has said, after all these centuries of specific exclusion, we need specific inclusion.

I'm Alison Mariella Désir and I invite you to join me in the outdoors.

(gentle music continues)