Actions for an Anti Racist Climbing Community
Recently the RMF made a statement of solidarity with the Black Community against police brutality and racial injustice. That’s all well and good, but what are we doing about it?
The Board of Directors of the Ragged Mountain Foundation (predominantly male, predominantly white) has voted to make targeted donations to organizations in our region working for racial equality in climbing, racial justice in communities and supportive housing to end homelessness (which commonly affects people of color to a greater degree) in Connecticut.
Part of our support will go to an organization called Brown Girls Climb, which has a chapter based in Boston, Massachusetts, but is nation-wide. Brown Girls Climb is a small “Women of Color owned and operated organization with the mission to promote and increase visibility of diversity in climbing by establishing a community of climbers of color, encouraging leadership opportunities for self-identified women climbers of color, and by creating inclusive opportunities to climb and explore for under-represented communities.” https://www.browngirlsclimb.com/about
Brown Girls Climb is a member-supported community, offering memberships of many levels and opportunities for both people of color and allies. Their membership benefits include day passes to partner gyms, access to climbing classes of many levels, access to free rental gear during BGC meetups, even access to scholarships and employment opportunities. For Allies, these benefits include resources for continuing to educate and improve your allyship, webinars, newsletters and monthly trainings. These women are hard at work to create space for black and brown women and femmes in the climbing community. Please join us in supporting their continued efforts.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/browngirlsclimb
Instagram: @browngirlsclimb
Web: https://www.browngirlsclimb.com
What can you do?
One very small thing that definitely helps to refocus your social landscape is to add new faces to your social media, and get to know organizations that are working to dismantle the racist belief that “Black people don’t go outside.” Here are a few organizations and people we started to follow to educate and amplify the voices of color in the climbing and outdoor community:
Melanin Base Camp - www.melaninbasecamp.com, @melaninbasecamp - News and Media website for increasing the visibility of “outdoorsy black, indigenous, people of color, to increase our representation in the media, advertising and in the stories we tell ourselves about the Outdoors.”
Latino Outdoors - www.latinooutdoors.org, @latinooutdoors - Non-profit organization engaging and connecting Latino communities in the outdoors.
OutdoorAfro - www.outdoorafro.com, @outdoorafro - Non-profit organization and network to celebrate and inspire Black connections and leadership in the Outdoors.
Brown Girls Climb - www.browngirlsclimb.com, @browngirlsclimb - Membership based climbing community created to amplify and advance Women of Color and underrepresented communities in Climbing.
Brothers of Climbing - @boccrew - New York-based Climbing organization for underrepresented groups within the climbing community
Memphis Rox Climbing Gym - www.memphisrox.org @memphisroxclimbing - Memphis-based climbing gym “that excludes no one, regardless of ability to pay.”
Color the Crag - www.colorthecrag.com, @colorthecrag - Climbing Festival to celebrate diversity in the sport of rock climbing.
PGM ONE - @pgmonesummit, www.pgmone.org - People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature and Environment, summit that convenes hundreds of emerging and established professionals of the global majority to lead the racial equity and inclusion movement in the outdoor and environmental sectors.
Kai Lightner - @kailightner - professional climber
L. Renee - @urbanclimbr - Adventure photographer and outdoor athlete
Latasha Dunston - @jitterbug_art - Artist, illustrator, nature lover.
Brittany Leavitt - @bleavitt8 - Early Educator for Smithsonian Institute, Regional Development Coordinator at Brown Girls Climb, Director of Operations for Color the Crag, Leader with Outdoor Afro, outdoor educator, backpacker, climber, photographer
Chelsea Murphy - @she_colorsanture - Mother Nature advocate, ambassador for Adventure Mamas Initiative, mother, adventurer, and outdoor enthusiast
Grace Anderson - @amaze_me_grace - Director of Operations and Strategic Partnerships for the PGM One Summit, leader of outdoor courses for NOLS, GirlVentures and Balanced Rock
Laura Edmonson - @laura.edmondson - Corporate Responsibility Manager at Brown Girls Climb, disabilities rights educator and environmental justice advocate.
Cliford Mervil - @cliford.mervil - Outdoor Photographer
Mikhail Martin - @kaledoesit - Climber and co-founder of Brothers of Climbing and Color the Crag
You can also dive into some resources:
Http://www.bit.ly/AllyGuideBLM
We will continue to share stories and content to amplify the voices of those in our climbing community who have not been heard. We will continue to amplify the voices of BIPOC climbers and NBPOC climbers. We will call out racial injustice in climbing and will not tolerate hate or hate speech in spaces we occupy. We will call on gyms we partner with to dismantle implicit biases that prohibit Black climbers from climbing freely. We will continue learning. We will make mistakes. We will own those mistakes and we will do better. We will continue listening and we will use our platform and our privilege to lift up those who are not seen or heard.
We will continue to say that Black Lives Matter.
By the Ragged Mountain Foundation Board of Directors
