Black Lives Matter: What are you doing to dismantle white supremacy today?

I don't really use this space for politics. I hardly use it for my personal life (though ask me how well the blog on my personal life is going, hah) 

Just so we're clear on where I stand and what will and won't be tolerated in this space here: Black Lives Matter and the whole police and justice system is trash and needs a massive overhaul. The system is inherently racist. 

Given current events I've seen this now leaking into the horse community, something I'm very thankful for. It needs more attention, especially when you look at a lot of the casual trail riding communities and find abhorrent racism, or at the very least, people who insist that they don't see color and that's satisfactory. Enough so that myself, a very privileged white person, just had to mute it all because trying to speak up meant I was drowned in a sea of voices scorning me. I can't even imagine how a person of color would feel.  (But seriously, don't join Horse Trails and Camping across the USA. Terrible) 

Denny made a post about this (and is getting swarmed with hurt white people who apparently feel attacked), but yesterday I saw a few things that I wanted to share as they are horsey and they are relevant to the present times.

First, Mica Burton (daughter of Levar Burton, and a cosplayer and gamer) recently shared a link to an organization that could use our help. This particular one is a California group that works with kids of color and gets them involved with horses and teaching them to ride.

Consider taking a fee you would have paid to a show that you're not going to because of Covid-19 and donate it to this organization, or find something similar to support. Mica specifically mentioned this:

https://www.comptonjrequestrians.org/

Edited to add in Viva Carlos as a blogger to get to know. She's amazing and just made a post that has a lot of educational links you can sit with and educate yourself. One VERY important thing to know as you immerse yourself in activism for the black community. They do NOT owe you education. It takes them time and energy that they may not have because of ALLLLLL the white folx who have come before you. Do not demand that. Google is your friend. L. William's links are your friend. Sit with the information presented there and if you feel immediate defensiveness when you read something, don't react but really examine where that emotion is coming from and what implicit biases you might have. It's uncomfortable but necessary.

Additionally, seek out and follow black equestrians on Twitter and Instagram! This fabulous person, Brianna Noble brought her horse TO one of the protests. From perusing her IG, she looks like an amazing trainer and horsewoman. 

View this post on Instagram

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 #heelsdown #blacklivesmatter https://heelsdownmag.com/brianna-noble-is-the-horsewoman-we-all-need-right-now/

A post shared by Brianna Noble (@urbancowgirl510) on Jun 3, 2020 at 9:02am PDT

Potential Trail Loss

There is a proposal to allow bicyclists to access previously horse/hiker only trail in upper Michigan. The danger of sharing the trail is acknowledged by the proposal and instead they want to alternate days/weeks that horses and bikes can access it.

Please add your signature to the petition and/or send an email to the Forest Service emails listed at the petition site to ask them to not do this. And share!

The threatened trail in question is a linear trail like that used by Shore to Shore and horseback riders will ride out and camp and come back, using the trail on multiple days. To alternate use, especially if it's a day or even week, would extremely discourage equestrian use and impact what little trail in Michigan is left. There is plenty of area to create a new trail for exclusive bike access. They do not need the

I've shared on this blog before how poorly our previous interactions with mountain bikes on shared trail has been and this horrifies me that access is getting restricted. Please help us Michigan riders out and support the cause. We don't want the precedent set for other horse trails across the country.

The part where we nearly collided is where the horses and bikes share a trail VERY briefly. If you ride the red loop counter clockwise, you share the trail head-on to the bikes (who have a unidirectional trail).  I saw the overlap coming. We paused before stepping onto the trail, I didn't see or hear anything.  Then we proceeded and ZOOM.  A guy came around the bend and was apparently ready to just zip on by us.
I started shouting, "Hello?! HELLO! HEY!" Gwyn tucked her tail under and I felt her begin to spin, dude on the bike finally figured out that hey, maybe I should slow down (no FUCKING shit, asshole) and she 180'd back the other way. I sat deeply and grabbed mane. I turned her back and asked her to walk toward the bike. Her whole body was tense. The guy apologized and he went on his way, saying there was one more behind him. The one more came not long after and I kicked Gwyn into a trot to get the fuck away from the merged section before we died.

Every other bike encounter was less dramatic, but Gwyn was more charged up about it. Bikes were obviously out to get her.

So I think that's poor trail planning.  *grumble*