The #BlackInNature posts are very important for field scientists to pay attention to. One of the biggest lies that white scientists like me tell ourselves is that Black people are underrepresented in field sciences because somehow they just aren't interested in nature. (1/6)
This is obvious bullshit if you take the time to examine it. I belonged to a majority Black Boy Scout troop & those kids loved being outdoors as much as the rest of us but as far as I know none went on to become field scientists. This is about opportunity, not interest. (2/6)
And the really ugly truth is that fieldwork can be much more dangerous for Black scientists. Last year I had a fantastic Black student working in my lab, and he had an opportunity to join a fieldtrip to collect fossils in Nevada and wanted to know if I thought it was safe. (3/6)
I started in with my standard answer to this question: you've been taught to be afraid of the desert but the truth is that if you prepare carefully and bring plenty of water there's not much to worry about, rattlesnakes are more afraid of you than you are of them, etc. (4/6)
He listened politely and then very gently clarified that what he meant was "is this a safe place for Black people?". And I felt like an idiot, because I was being an idiot. He didn't have the luxury of worrying mostly about snakes and scorpions. (5/6)
#BlackInNature strips away the comforting lie that maybe -for some unspecified reason- Black people just don't like field science. Of course they do. But as in so many other areas of American life, they are systematically and sometimes violently excluded by white people. (6/6)
