There is a tendency by the outdoors lovers and “adventurer” types to imagine nature as a boundless and borderless space that anyone can wander into. There are no bouncers at a park entrance, after all. But, if they turn their eyes from the majestic sights and natural beauty that surrounds them to the people that accompany them in these spaces, they might start to notice something: The outdoors is shockingly white.
It’s something that Danielle Williams, the founder of Melanin Base Camp, didn’t recognize until she found herself returning to the outdoors as an adult seeking community. “When you’re younger, you don’t notice as much. You’re just running around with all the other little kids,” Williams tells Mic. “It wasn’t until I was older and trying to reconnect with the outdoors as an adult that I first noticed I might be the only person who looks like me.”
