Dear Chicago Audubon members,
Along with so many other organizations, CAS is examining how social and racial inequity and white supremacy have shaped our organization and our world. In this note, I share some of the conversations we have been having, thoughts I have been thinking, and plans we are making.
Two years ago, CAS decided to revisit its mission, vision and goals. In those discussions, we decided together that the most important thing we could do as a Chicago bird conservation organization is to try to build a racially and culturally diverse grassroots group. We set about transforming our board, staff and activities. We are proud to report that currently our board is almost 1/3 BIPOC, our staff (of 1!) is 100%, and we have met some valued new partners from diverse communities. This has made a tremendous difference in how we have met the moment, and I want to personally express an appreciation for everyone – staff, board, and partners – who are currently helping us to examine and redefine our place.
We also started programs in new areas. We have established a regular presence in McKinley Park. The pandemic has slowed down our launch of programming in Riverdale and West Pullman, as well as the field trip leader training program we had planned for the spring in Washington Park and Rainbow Beach, but those will come. We think the approach of establishing ourselves in neighborhoods will work well for us. We started an LGBTQ+ nature exploration group, are launching quarterly walks in Washington Park in partnership with Blacks in Green, and spearheaded an effort to honor diverse Chicago communities through names for the plover chicks.
Before the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others, before the Christian Cooper incident in Central Park, if you had asked us what racial equity looked like for a birding organization, we would have said a diverse board, a diverse constituency, engagement with community organizations and environmental justice issues. Since then, we’ve had to look a lot deeper.
First and foremost – we are a society. And not just any society – we are a not-for-profit, one of those organizations out here trying to make a better world. To make that better world, we have to confront denial. About our economy, rooted in exploitation of people and nature. About the white supremacist and colonialist origins of our ideas about land and property, and our name. About the way some of us have benefitted from privilege, and the pain, fear and anger that others of us walk around with every day. And about the way those privileges – including the privilege to enjoy a bird walk - are protected through police violence. (At the links are some of the most thought-provoking things we’ve been reading.)
For me, as a white person, throwing off those decades of denial feels good. Uncomfortable, yes; painful, yes; but also good. Painful because it involves acknowledging the reality that members of our community face in a racist system and examining my own part in that. I look forward to the future of CAS, and all birding societies, and our broader society - hopefully in a better, healthier world for birds, nature and people.
Good birding and good “personing”!
Judy
In addition to the initiatives mentioned above, CAS is starting an anti-racist book club, looking for a more progressive banking option, and planning to hire a consultant for an organizational audit. There’s much more we can do – help us make it happen!