Black Lives Matter – Resources to Heal our Communities
Dear Earthaven Family,
Awareness is at the core of community. Usually we write to you with inspiration to deepen connections to each other and the natural world. As a predominantly white community, we write to you today with a different awareness:
- Of our privilege, of the structures of institutionalized racism and anti-blackness
- Of the ways the intentional community and environmental movements support internalized racism
- Of the limits and barriers to access to nature and land ownership for Black people, Indigenous people, and other People of Color
Along with many of you, we’ve spent these past weeks feeling and processing the pain and rage felt across the country in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. We recognize that until people of color are safe in all communities, no people are safe in any community. Our voices are not the most important ones, but our vocal solidarity is essential.
To the Black members of our global community: We see you, we support you, and we stand by you.
For the past few years, we at Earthaven have been thinking deeply about our responsibilities in working towards being a more just and equitable community. We are committed to making Earthaven a safe place for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color to visit, study, and live. We will keep striving to be an anti-racist community. Click here to learn about Earthaven’s commitment to partnership culture, to racial and gender equity, and against oppression in all its forms.
To the white people in our global community, we invite you to hold yourselves accountable alongside us. Confronting racism is so much more than any one donation, email, or social media post — it’s urgent, life-long work. To continue to educate ourselves about systemic and structural racism and engage in effective action, we encourage you to explore the list of resources below.
We also want to share that Earthaven’s doors are open to visitors for tours and events again. Our first public tour is this Saturday, June 13. If you need some inspiration — a demonstration of what’s possible amid all the chaos and insanity of the world — or simply some human and nature connection, please make a date to come by for a visit or deep learning experience.
Last, but not least, we invite you to practice true self-care and well-being, particularly in stressful times. True self-care reduces harm and is a revolutionary act. When we care for ourselves, it’s care for the community. In support of personal and collective well-being, in our resource list below, we’re highlighting Black and POC herbalists and naturalists sharing their passions and gifts with the world. Let’s remember to engage and partner with the natural world and all our plant allies.
This moment feels particularly different from those in times past. May this mean that we are headed to real, long-lasting positive change. As Maya Angelou put it, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” May it be so!
Take care of yourself and each other.
Resources to Heal our Communities
–––––––––––––––––––– LEARN ––––––––––––––––––––
A Black Women’s History of the United States
by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross
by Ibram X. Kendi
Racial Equity Institute’s Groundwater Workshop
A corrective history of the United States to better understand systemic and structural racism
The 1619 Project, the Pulitzer Prize winning series by Nikole Hannah-Jones
A history of slavery in North America
Scene on Radio podcast “Seeing White”
About the origins of the dehumanizing construct of race
Regarding George Floyd, the Minneapolis Protests, Ahmaud Arbery, and Amy Cooper
A thought-provoking documentary in which scholars, activists, and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom
–––––––––––––––––––– DONATE ––––––––––––––––––––
Outdoor Afro, Latino Outdoors, BLISS Meadows,
Wild Earth, Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust
Organizations that endeavor to reclaim the connection of Black and Brown Americans to nature, farms, and food systems, and to ensure the safety and comfort of communities of color in the outdoors
A critical tool to prevent incarceration and combat racial and economic disparities in the bail system
NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund
Fighting for Racial Justice
Rootwork Herbals – The People’s Medicine Project: Reclamation
Contribute to the movement of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color reclaiming their access to Herbal Medicine
TO FIND AND SUPPORT BLACK HERBALISTS, these wonderful folks can help:
@alysonsimplygrows @herbanhealing @indyofficinalis @empresskarenmrose @thehillbillyafrican@countrygentlemancooks Olatokunboh Obasi
–––––––––––––––––––– FRIEND + FOLLOW ––––––––––––––––––––
Tackling current social and cultural issues with an intergenerational perspective.
#AskaBlackBirder @dcblacknaturalist #BlackWomenWhoBird #BirdingWhileBlack
Nature connection resources from organizations led by Black naturalists
–––––––– SUPPORT BLACK, INDIGENOUS + POC ENTREPRENEURS ––––––––
Rebuilding and appreciating culture through traditional food ways
Committed to bridging ancient remedies to the modern world
* Receive 15% off this week (10% of proceeds will be given to NAACP and other causes owned and operated by the Black community.) APPLY CODE: BLACKLIVESMATTER
Black, Cherokee, donate, Indigenous, People of Color, POC, racism, reclaim