In this session, Serena Ryan, Ruth Castillo, Mardi Fuller and Kathy Chau Rohn from Summits in Solidarity will offer a glimpse into the practical, ethical, and emotional challenges they face as they work to identify and dismantle white supremacy in the organization.
Attendees (you!) will have the opportunity to reflect on your journey to becoming an anti-racist change-maker in your spheres of influence—whether you have started an organization like SiS or engage in activism in any form. What stumbling blocks, tensions, or challenges have you encountered? Are there elements of white supremacy that you are unsure how to navigate, or that are preventing you from taking action? How can we learn from each others’ experiences to inform our future actions?
What is Summits in Solidarity?
In June 2020, a group of outdoorspeople came together to build Summits in Solidarity (SiS), a non-profit organization and movement that addresses racial inequity. Learn about how they work to identify and root out the white supremacy inherent in nonprofit funding organizations.
Summits in Solidarity (SiS) is led by Serena Ryan—a white hiker-hostel owner living in New Hampshire—and guided by five Black, Latine and Asian board members who are responsible for the governance of the organization. Every June, Summits in Solidarity engages hikers in New Hampshire and across the country to raise money for BIPOC-led justice work. In February, volunteers run a 28-day virtual group challenge for white people to learn how they may be unintentionally upholding elements of white supremacy, such as white privilege, white fragility, racist stereotypes, and cultural appropriation, so that they can begin to dismantle them.
FAQ:
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Yes, this stretch session will feature Black, Latine, Asian and white racial justice advocates, who will discuss their experiences working together to create a movement for racial equity in the outdoor community. They will work with attendees to develop their own goals and plans surrounding race-based change-making in their community. Depending on the racial make-up of session attendees, we may break out into race-based groups to allow for maximum comfort and vulnerability in the attendee discussions.
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Because this stretch session aims to help attendees move beyond understanding concepts to taking action, attendees should have a baseline level of racial literacy and be familiar with the following: systems of white supremacy and white privilege, structural racism, and racial equity. We will not be defining these concepts during this session.
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For white folks, the first step towards dismantling white supremacy is to look inward. Ask yourself: which of my societal and cultural norms and values may be steeped in white supremacy? How may I be unintentionally upholding this system? This work will be challenging and, at times, disturbing, if done honestly and thoroughly. But you don’t have to do it alone. Join white Summits in Solidarity volunteers this February for our 28-Day Me and White Supremacy Virtual Challenge. We’re doing a deep dive into learning about, uncovering and liberating ourselves from our own internalized white supremacy. Participants frequently describe their experience in the challenge as transformative. Register now.
Meet your facilitators:
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Serena founded Summits in Solidarity in 2020 and is the current executive director of the organization. She raised $37K for BIPOC outdoor/justice orgs in Summits in Solidarity’s first two years, before incorporating it into a non-profit organization in Spring of 2022. Serena is committed to examining her whiteness and white privilege, and educating herself about best anti-racist practices for white racial justice leaders. She has completed the 28-Day Me and White Supremacy Challenge (Layla Saad), the Healing from Internalized Whiteness 10-week course (Sandra Kim), the Liberating the Mind-Body-Spirit from White Supremacy 6-week course (Dr. Christena Cleveland), and the Anti-Racism for DEI course (Nicole Cardoza). Serena is an avid hiker and backpacker. She lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire where she owns and operates the Notch Hostel, a farmhouse-turned-hostel that prioritizes community building and inclusivity.
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Mardi Fuller advocates for racial equity through writing, speaking and community building. A lifelong backcountry adventurer, in January 2021 she became the first known Black person to hike all 48 of New Hampshire’s high peaks in winter. She is a contributing writer to Outside magazine, SKI magazine, NRDC, Melanin Basecamp and more. She lives in Boston where she works as a nonprofit communications director and organizes hike, ski and climb events centering Black people and BIPOC. Mardi is committed to personal and corporate Black liberation and thereby, liberation for all humanity. She believes deeply in nature's healing power.
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Ruth Castillo is a data analyst currently based in the White Mountain Region in New Hampshire. Born in Mexico and raised in Honduras, she received an opportunity for university studies in 2010, and moved from Honduras to the US. Her journey exploring the outdoors and its community started in 2013 while studying Biomedical Engineering at the University of Maine. Through the last decade, Ruth became an integral part of the climbing community in Boston, and also has worked to increase diversity and inclusion in the spaces she occupies: as a mentor and coordinator for the Tufts University Center for STEM diversity supporting students of various backgrounds in STEM, as an Engineering educator and role model for high school students, as a mentor for beginner climbers in both the Tufts Climbing Team and at her local climbing gym by offering climbing clinics for women, and as a DEI Council member for her current company - building internal structures to support employees from all backgrounds. As she started to explore climbing in New England, she also fell in love with the different feel hiking and trail running in the White Mountains offered — moments to enjoy socially, reflect, and mentally disconnect from societal pressures we experience everyday. She found a new outlet as well, capturing these moments digitally behind a camera. She strongly believes in a future where the outdoors is accessible to all, and hopes to continue building spaces for folks of underrepresented groups to safely discover the joy that outdoor recreation can offer.
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Kathy Chau Rohn, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut and a co-chair for the Symposium on Experiential Education Research. Her research focuses on college success, equity in evaluation, experiential education, and amplifying the voices of marginalized populations across these areas. Outside of work, Kathy spends much of her free time exploring the outdoors, particularly in the Northeast. She has hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Long Trail, the Trans Catalina Trail, the Camino Primitivo, half of the Pacific Crest Trail, in addition to the 67 4,000 footers in New England, including the New Hampshire 48 in winter. As a Vietnamese American woman, educator, and avid backpacker and hiker, Kathy is passionate about cultivating equitable and inclusive educational and outdoor spaces through research and action.