Black Lives Matter
| Dear Friends of Spring Bird, This letter comes to you after weeks of grieving, protesting, learning, questioning, and dreaming of an anti-racist world devoid of police brutality and systemic racism. We at Spring Bird and indeed, the land, animals, birds, sky, insects, plants, water, and earth all stand with the Black Lives Matter Movement. Our hearts ache for the suffering of the families, friends, and communities affected by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and all of the black people wrongfully killed because of police brutality and white supremacy during these hundreds of years of colonialism. We apologize for allowing this brutality to continue – for being complacent – for not listening as well as we should. We will bear this grief for the rest of our lives. It’s with absolute urgency that we go to work personally, socially, politically to defund the police, decolonize our minds and hearts, and work to make our communities safe for black people and everyone threatened by white supremacy. While we work, Spring Bird, these wooded acres, remains a safe place for Black bodies to be in nature. We invite black people to come to Spring Bird- to rest – to hike – to bird watch – to forest bathe – to BE in nature. The nature at Spring Bird needs your attention and presence. Meanwhile, we white people will continue to examine how we can decompose the white supremacy at the foundation of our country that enslaves its people and its nature. I look forward to learning more about the intersection of race and environmentalism. How does white supremacy rob us of our relationship with nature? How does it pervert it? I don’t doubt that we can’t solve for one without solving for the other. Here are a few podcasts that have been enlightening to me this week. For The Wild: Tricia Hersey on Rest as Resistance For The Wild: Homebound- Embodying the Revolution with Bronte Velez ON Being: Eula Bliss – Talking About Whiteness While learning about my own whiteness can feel awkward and uncomfortable, it is really the very least I can do in liberating our communities of color, ensuring their safety and right to live a life full of health, hope, and wellbeing. As Eula Bliss says, we are living in a house we did not pay for. It’s time to pay! The thing is, in doing the work of dismantling, we too gain the liberation of our souls. With Open Hearts, Spring Bird CALL TO ACTION: Donate: Black Voters Matter Fund Southsiders Organized For Unity and Liberation ArtEsteem Growing Home Many More Support Black Owned Business, Writers, Musicians, and Artists READ – Lots of lists out there! MARCH and Demonstrate Have difficult conversations with white friends and family – Especially if you are white Listen to black people and believe them Check your denial and defensiveness Apologize when you cause pain – even when it is unintended |