(birds chirping) (foot thumping) (mysterious music) - [Narrator] Running and reclaiming the outdoors as our space has been the most powerful force in my life.

My name is Alison Mariella Desir.

My most important role right now is mother.

I am an activist, I'm a runner, I'm a transplant.

I moved to Seattle a year and a half ago.

The show is going to be 10 episodes, each one featuring a black, indigenous, or other person of color claiming or reclaiming space in the outdoors.

- When I think about meeting with black and brown folks who are kayaking and hiking, I hope that the representation launches a whole new generation of outdoors people.

(children howling) (indistinct) (child howling) (upbeat music) (car engine roaring) - Right now we are on the way to a trail not too far from my house.

I love it because it is like 20 minutes away but when you get there you feel like you're deep in the back country.

And I always find that running through the trails this trail in particular gives me an opportunity to feel connected to something, but also like really small.

Sometimes your life or your problems seem so big and unmanageable and then you get into the trail and you realize just how tiny you are and how little it matters honestly.

This mantra came into my head meeting through movement, it allows me to process things, to get in touch with parts of myself, solve problems.

Running really brings meaning and it's a powerful force in my life.

(upbeat music) Show me dada.

Show me mama.

So you are interviewing me today.

- That is correct.

- Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- What do you got for me?

- The one question we always get a lot is like why'd we leave Harlem and why we choose the Pacific Northwest?

- Yeah.

I actually I heard this phrase recently that I wasn't aware of but it's called environmental migration.

And the person told me that their parents had actually moved from New York to Seattle for a better life, for better living conditions.

And when I think about it that's exactly what we did.

We just wanted something where our son could thrive, and where our son could know that the outdoors was for him, where he could feel comfortable doing all the things hiking, fishing, whatever he wants to do that he could feel connected to that and know that it's really his birthright.

- So now that we're in the Pacific Northwest how has that been so far the transition?

- Mm.

There was initial like real culture shock.

I think the biggest thing for me was right away finding community and being really intentional about, okay well where are the black people?

Where are the indigenous people?

Where are the people of color just like us?

Like they've gotta be here.

Maybe there's not as many of them.

And I think that intentionality is not something that you have to do in New York, but doing it here allowed me to really find my people right away.

I miss everybody so much at home.

And it will never be the same, things shouldn't ever be the same, but I feel like I found my place.

- Do you have like hopes for everybody tuning in and the audience at large?

- I hope that this show really has the effect of humanizing people.

Like this show will expose viewers to people in some cases who are just like them.

People who they've never seen before activities that maybe they've done or that they've never considered, or they said like, "Whoa that is not for me."

Growing up, and it's not something I received from my parents.

I don't know where I received this message but that certain things were like white people stuff and black people didn't do certain things.

And what I realize now as adult is that one those sayings really are a reflection of who had access to the outdoors?

Like in this country, Jim Crow segregation, national parks were segregated.

Black people couldn't go to them.

If you think about like redlining, you think about creation of the inner city, you think about limited job opportunities, all of those things impact the amount of money you have, the amount of free time you have.

So really stuff that's white people's stuff is stuff that was out of reach for us.

I also think about well what were the dangers associated with going outdoors?

Like lynching was something that was practiced until really the seventies, right?

So going into the outdoors came with risks.

Therefore, it's almost like we built this story as a protection.

Like we don't do that stuff.

Really the end of that sentence is because we could get killed for doing it.

(gentle music) (footsteps approaching) Do you have any advice for me?

Do you have any things you're excited about that you might see on this series?

- [Amir] I guess the hopes and like goals that I have is just that one.

You really just take it all in and yeah just enjoy the ride and every person that you experience it with.

- Yeah, I wanna soak it all in.

I'm gleaning all of this life experience as I meet with folks.

(footsteps thumping) Every run for me is different in that sometimes I'm out to solve a problem, like I have a problem on my mind, an issue that I'm dealing with, and the run helps me solve it.

Other times the run allows me to feel connected to something that's bigger than myself.

Other times I don't think about anything at all.

I sort of get into a zone and the movement allows me to almost get into a meditative space.

So all of these things are possibilities, and that's also part of the joy in running because it can offer you so much and oftentimes exactly what you need without knowing you needed it.

(gentle music) So when I was very young, maybe five or six years old my father gave me the nickname 'Powdered Feet', which comes from the Haitian Creole saying that describes somebody who's so active.

You never see them.

Just the footprints of where they've been in powder.

And as I've grown older, I've lived up to that name and those feet also have been blazing a trail for other people, which is a beautiful addition to the metaphor.

(upbeat music) - [Presenter] Hear more about this episode on the Out & Back with Alison Mariella Desir podcast.

Just search Out & Back wherever you listen.

- [Announcer] Fleet Feet is on a mission to inspire the runner and everyone, and is proud to sponsor Crosscuts Out & Back with Alison Mariella Desir.