Outdoors champions dispel racial stereotypes

Rue Mapp, Outdoor Afro founder and chief executive officer, says her group aims to dispel a misconception that African-Americans do not have a meaningful connection with the outdoors.

Rue Mapp of Oakland, Calif., became emotional and took a moment to compose herself before she took questions from the audience.

That was after the roomful of about 40 birders exploded with applause once the Outdoor Afro founder and chief executive officer finished her 30-minute talk at Maumee Bay State Park.

Titled “A New Narrative,” her presentation was part of the Biggest Week in American Birding event.

“There's a perception that African-Americans don't have a relationship with the outdoors,” she said. “And I am trying to dispel that notion with the work that I do and by having connections and opportunities to appear and share the work of Outdoor Afro here at festivals like this one.”

“We really want more people to know about the benefits, the joys, but also about the connections we have to the birding world ... and really find more connection between people in a time when we really need to be more connected than ever before,” she said.

She talked about her own family history and about the work done by Outdoor Afro “to tell a new narrative.”

VIDEO: Outdoor Afro founder Rue Mapp

Outdoor Afro, she said, is a national nonprofit organization, which “celebrates and inspires African American connections to nature through many different forms of outdoor recreation, including birding.” It has 80 activists in 30 states, who engage about 30,000 people in an array of outdoor activities.

Said Kimberly Kaufman, executive director of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory located at the entrance to Magee Marsh in Oak Harbor, Ohio, “I follow her on Facebook. I follow all of her work. And she challenges me. And sometimes the things she writes make me angry, like, 'Really! What does that mean?' And then I think about it and I think, 'Oh my God! Wait a minute! She is right!”

Karen Kennedy, 75, a birder from Albuquerque, N.M., agreed.

“I think we are often so wrapped up in our white world that we often don't even think to make an effort to ask a neighbor to go out on a hike ...,” she said. “I am going to be very much aware of it and ask the two black people I know out on a hike or bird watching.”

Other birding events of the week included a bird-watching outing at Black Swamp Bird Observatory presented Friday by Toledo’s Adelante Latino Resource Center, with about 40 people attending, according to Claribel Timmins, Adelante programs manager.

“Most of the people participating in our programs come from Mexico, Central America, and Puerto Rico, where flora and fauna are incredibly rich,” Ms. Timmins said. “So we are accustomed to watching beautiful birds, and we want to keep that tradition here in the United States and educate our children.”

The Biggest Week in American Birding ends Sunday.

For more information about Outdoor Afro and Adelante’s outdoor events, go to http://outdoorafro.com/ or www.adelantetoledo.org.

Contact Mike Sigov at sigov@theblade.com, 419-724-6089, or on Twitter @mikesigovblade.