Out of the Ashes and into the Fire and the aftermath of the White Lion

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1619 the first ship with Black slaves arrived at the docks in Virginia. The origin of the ship was the west coast of Africa and the Kingdom of Ndongo (modern Angola). This was not the first time that people in the US were going to utilize slaves, but that is a completely different story.

The US is not the only country in the world that have enslaved Black people, even Sweden owned different colonies through time (five in total, and one of those in Africa, Cabo Corso (Ghana)). The slave handle in West Africa is directly linked to the iron ore industry in Bergslagen, Sweden, and Sweden even had a slave fort called Carolusborg (Cape Coast Castle) which contributed to the transatlantic slave trade. I guess you could say that every white (hu)man have roots in enslaving people in one way or another. This is the root of the problems we see in today’s society. Racism and suppression against Black people have continued through time, long after the official end of slavery here in the US (and elsewhere). About 250 years after that first ship docked in Virginia, the Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln (January 1st 1863) in the US. It would be an additional 2.5 years before all slaves were completely free though, 19th of June 1865, Juneteenth. I had no idea about Juneteenth until these past weeks and all the BLM protest. More than 400 years after that first ship docked in Virginia we still see oppression of Black people here in the US, and other parts of the world of course. It is deeply rooted in society here in the US, but also in other countries. It is our turn to help put an end to it, once and for all. It has been shown time and time again that it is not over. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was put into place in 1863 (or 1865) it still took an additional 100 years before Rosa Parks decided to not give her seat to a white man on the bus, and started the Civil Rights Movement.

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I have a lot to learn when it comes to racism both in the US and in Sweden. It is very clear that our (my) world has been built up on false visions that somehow the whole world is white. This is why we need to admit to ourselves that we are all a part of the Racism, but we can also change this course. The other day I reflected on the fact that my Instagram feed is very very white, why? I love nature, mountains, hiking and there are a lot of Black voices out there that I had no idea about, Black voices that are doing all of these things I am interested in. How come I have never seen them before? (well, I can probably answer that question myself). This past week I decided to mute all stories from the white people I follow to give room to more Black voices, changing the algorithm of the Instagram feed. I hope that I in the future will see a more diverse spread on Instagram.

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Changing my Instagram is not going to make any larger impact in the real world though, and we must instead actively engage ourselves in real things. We can start by educating ourselves, reading books, or listening to podcasts. We can start supporting Black businesses, donate money to Black organizations or the many Black voices that are educating all white people on their social media platform. If we are able to we can get out there and support Black voices in protests, there are many protests going on all across the world now. We can talk about racism with our fellow white friends and our families, point out racism when we see or hear it, especially in conversations with our friends and family. One important point though during all of this is that we (non-Black people) will never understand how it is to be a Black person in today’s society. We have some major homework to do, reading and educating ourselves about racism and white privilege, and learn how to change the way we see and understand things. We have to do better in the support of the BLM movement and realize that racism is very real, even in Sweden. All of this is going to take time, but it is important that we take this time, that we do not forget about all the issues we have read about these past weeks, that we continue to actively support Black voices. I am sure I will say or do something wrong during all of this, but that is such a small thing in the grand scheme of things.

Below are a couple of links that have helped me the past couple of days:

https://www.obama.org/anguish-and-action/
https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/
https://www.goodgoodgood.co/anti-racism-resources
Mireille Cassandra Harper: If You Want To Be Anti-Racist, This Non-Optical Allyship Guide Is Required Reading
Rachel Elizabeth Cargle: Why You Need To Stop Saying "All Lives Matter"
Victoria Alexander: Anti-Racist Resource Guide
Robin DiAngelo: Anti-Racist Checklist Guide
Elijah Anderson: “The White Space”
Conscious Kid conversation with Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility
Anthony James William: The Souls of White Folk

This list can continue forever and ever of course, and there are many other great sources out there.

Below are a couple of new (to me) Instagram accounts to follow if you like nature, hiking, mountains and adventures:

• Rachel Olzer

• Tiffany Tharpe

• Kori Alexis

• Rebeccah

• Latasha Dunston

• Brooklyn Bell

• Kae

• Grace

• Mélise Marie

• Brittany Leavitt

• Juju Milay

• Vasu Sojitra

• Chelsea

• Chadia

• Rachel

• Akudo Thandeka Zola Mbali

• Karl Shakur

I also recommend you to think about how what your Instagram feed looks like. What passion do you have in life, and how many Black voices are you following within your passion?

America's Last Truly Great Wilderness

“To be a wilderness then was to be “deserted,” “savage,” “desolate,” “barren”—in short, a “waste,” the word’s nearest synonym. Its connotations were anything but positive, and the emotion one was most likely to feel in its presence was “bewilderment” or terror. ”

— William Cronon - The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature

Wednesday Thoughts

Arctic Wildlife Refuge

1002 Area

A whole different story from the chanting of “Build that Wall” that I wrote about last week, but still almost the same is going on in the most northern parts of Alaska. The development of the 1002 area, better known as "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins". I have written about it before, but it’s worth mentioning again. It’s been up for debate several times during the past 40 years, but now we are facing the reality of this government and the development of this area. Several articles have been written about Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and that we need to protect it. One of the, for me, most famous instances is the first minute or so in Patagonia’s video the Refuge below. It’s an old recording from hearings in the house, clipped together with environmentalists and other callers to a tv-show. One of the people talking over the phone, who clearly has never been up in Alaska or ANWR describes the "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins" as “Tundra known as wasteland, there is nothing out there, virtual plains as far as the eye can see”. Its a very strong moment in the video and it also highlights the problem of people’s perceptions about wilderness and nature, just look at the old perception about wilderness quoted above from Bill Cronon’s The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature.

The Porcupine Herd

The Arctic Refuge now contains the largest area of designated Wilderness within the National Wildlife Refuge System, covering about 19.64 million acres of land and water. The history behind the name “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins" that the Gwich'in people call it has to do with how the Caribou utilizes the large area. The porcupine herd utilizes a far greater area than the 1002 area, but come spring and early summer this is THE area all the Caribou from the Porcupine herd utilize as calving area, which makes it a very important area. Click on this LINK if you want to see the migration of the Porcupine herd with beautiful images. If you want to read the absolute latest (as of early January 2019) about the development in ANWR follow this LINK, or read this blogpost for more detailed information. To comment on the draft of Environmental Impact Statement that BLM put together follow this LINK, and you can read more about how to comment and why HERE, also in the actual Environmental Impact Statement. You have until February 11 to submit a comment. You can also submit your comment by mail:

Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program EIS
222 West 7th Avenue, Stop #13
Anchorage, Alaska 99513 -7504

Image Source: http://northern.org/media-library/maps/arctic/arctic-refuge-maps/1002AreaWlifeWEB.jpg/

I find it important to think about and share the issues we are facing in this day and age. I tend to focus on the environment and wilderness since those areas lay very close to my heart. What current issues are you burning for?

Winter travels and the White Mountains part 1

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Cold weather, snowstorms and BLM cabins  

    Last year my husband came up to visit for a couple of months and we planned a long weekend in the White Mountains. The weather this year has been really warm compared to previous winters, not only here in Alaska but elsewhere too. We drove towards the white mountains on a Saturday morning, through a really bad snowstorm. We arrived at the trailhead about 2 hrs later and felt, man that was the worst drive ever. We had been so worried about the weather on the trail but it turned out that the weather on the road was the most dangerous situation we ran into. The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has a bunch of cabins out in the White Mountains (and elsewhere too) which you can rent for a very small fee. They are completely dry cabins of course, no running water, no electricity, no stove to cook things on so you have to prepare a little bit. The first day was our shortest day and we skied about 7 miles before we arrived at Lee's Cabin, we met quite a few people going out when we came in, and luckily there had been another party at our cabin right before us so we arrived to warm cabin! 

Trail Etiquette

    As always when you are out and about in the mountains in Alaska, a lot of other people are out too. It is not uncommon to run into skijorers, dogsleds or snowmachiners. It's a good habit to leave way for people that are traveling at a greater speed than you, especially dogsleds, since it's a lot harder for them to slow down for others. We had a wonderful time out in the Whites, if you are interested to read more about the adventures we had, click on any of the pictures below: