Oklahoma Chapter

Commitment to Welcoming Everyone Outdoors

Our country’s long history of racism and exclusion prevents many people of color from feeling welcomed or safe outdoors. For example, the origin story of our national parks, often considered “America’s best idea,” includes the intended genocide and forced removal of Native Americans from their lands to ultimately create natural playgrounds for white and wealthier Americans. During the era of Jim Crow, our national parks were racially segregated, with only the lowest quality facilities made available to African Americans. Today, the legacy of racism and exclusion lives on, and a lack of diversity among park rangers and visitors to our national parks and public lands makes for a less than welcoming environment for many people of color.

For many years, the Sierra Club upheld these systems of oppression - first intentionally and later implicitly - and conceived of the wilderness as spaces reserved primarily for wealthy white men. We advocated for federal protection of wild lands to the direct harm of Native communities who had been living on the land for years, and for much of our history, prioritized protecting the Earth over its people. We have not done nearly enough to make our outings accessible and welcoming to those outside our historically upper-class, white demographic, and we have spent many years focused on introducing communities of color to our narrow definition of nature, without taking the time to build authentic relationships and recognize the ways communities already experience or would like to experience nature in their own lives.

Many incredible organizations have formed out of necessity to address these disparities over the last few decades, to affirm and encourage participation in the outdoors among marginalized communities and break down the barriers that prevent all people from feeling welcomed in our national parks and on all of our public lands. Organizations and programs serving people of color, women, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, people who are disabled, immigrants, refugees, the elderly, youth, and more have formed to increase opportunities for all communities to experience nature in culturally relevant ways. Today, Sierra Club is making earnest strides to utilize the Jemez Principles as a guide to working collaboratively and in deeper solidarity with those who strive to ensure all people feel safe, welcomed, valued, and at home in our parks and public lands. We are committed to being part of the solution.

Being part of the solution, for the Oklahoma Chapter, means partnering with the great community organizations who are already active in our communities and Tulsa Juneteenth is just one of many. Please sign up to join us on Saturday, June 15th!