Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit Love is King and the Alaska Wilderness League are excited to announce a formidable partnership. On July 13th 2021, they’re launching the inaugural expedition of their Advanced Leadership Experience Program called Operation ROAM.
“Climate change is a human rights issue not only because its devastating impacts affect the enjoyment of human rights, but also because it is a man-made phenomenon which can be mitigated by governments.”
Kumi Naidoo Secretary General of Amnesty International
Operation ROAM: BIPOC Outdoor Activists Join Forces With Alaska Wilderness League and Gwich’in People in Arctic Wildlife Refuge
During this 10-day trek, a select group of BIPOC adventurers will head into the Atigun Gorge in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, well above the Arctic Circle.
They will spend time hiking, camping and immersing themselves in the ancestral lands of the Gwich’in people, which are home to grizzly bears, polar bears, Dall sheep, wolves, lynx and caribou.
The purpose of this project is “tragically simple”, they said in a recent press release. Their mission is to “connect Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) who would normally not have an immediate stake in each other’s interests, culture and future, and find common ground and converge their movements for the greater good.”
Operation ROAM Leadership Field Program Participants
The expedition’s group is made up entirely of BIPOC people, brought together by Chad Brown, a Black, disabled, U.S. Navy veteran from Portland, who’s a passionate advocate for wilderness and an avid outdoorsman.
As Love Is King’s first Operation Roam, the first step entails building empathetic equity and ensuring we collectively begin to tackle both environmental and social issues. The Leadership Field Program is grounded in putting advocacy into action and elevating sense of interconnectedness.
Equipped with experience, stamina, commitment and passion, this accomplished group of established BIPOC leaders will hone their outdoor survival skills, experience living off the land and be immersed in an opportunity of placed based learning.
For the first Operation ROAM expedition, they’ll join forces with Bernadette Demientieff and the Gwich’in Steering Committee (see below) to learn first-hand about the issues and personally experience the vulnerable natural environment and natural resources of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The main purpose of this inaugural expedition is to probe, discover and ignite a meaningful dialogue that intertwines justice for vulnerable communities, vulnerable ecosystems and social inequalities.
Participants in the Operation ROAM Leadership Field Program are required to collaborate together and develop a strategic Environmental Justice and Social Justice “Action Plan.” Together they’ll gather insights, ideas and beliefs and collaborate to craft an actionable tactical strategy that will put “change in motion.”
This is the homework, literally the work they take home, the work that will fuel the Operation ROAM movement in the future.
Meet the Expedition ROAM Leadership Field Program Leaders
Dudley Edmondson
Dudley Edmondson is an established, filmmaker, presenter and author. He set out to create a set of out- door role models for the nation’s African American community by writing his landmark book, Black & Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places (AdventureKeen Publications 2006).
Dudley is also a filmmaker, presenter and noted photographer whose photography has been featured in galleries and nearly 100 publications around the world.
Additionally, he has been immersed in the effort to help the conservation sector become more inclusive, being one of the first to highlight the involvement of African Americans in the public lands system. In 2010 Dudley’s book and conservation work landed him an invitation to the White House for the signing of America’s Great Outdoors Initiative.
In 2012, the U.S Secretary of the Interior appointed Dudley a Judge for the Federal Migratory Birding Hunting and Conservation Duck Stamp.
More recently, the Minnesota House of Representatives appointed Dudley to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which is tasked with making funding recommendations to the legislature for the protection and restoration of Minnesota prairie, wetlands and forest habitats using Clean Water Land and Legacy funds.
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sonycamera2016
- Website: www.dudleyedmondson.com
Tamara Layden
Tamara is an ecologist with over eight years of experience in academia and the nonprofit sector. She currently manages a freshwater ecology lab at Reed College and also serves on the Environmental Professionals of Color leadership team.
Tamara is passionate about supporting ecosystem and community resiliency through scientific research, community development, and social justice and wildlife advocacy.
She has a variety of experience in the environmental field and is committed to wildlife conservation and cultivating an inclusive community of scientists, land stewards, and outdoor enthusiasts.
Tamara plans to continue her learning through a master’s degree in Ecology at Colorado State University, with an emphasis on building ethical collaborations at the intersection of western science and traditional ecological knowledge.
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/tamaralayden
Courtney Lanctot
Courtney is the owner and founder of The Unpopular Black, through which she encourages Black adventure by providing representation, information, and access to the outdoors and adventure activities.
Her work includes exploring outdoor places and spaces unpopular to the Black community, organizing Black adventure trips, while simultaneously educating through social media and her non-profit the National Black Adventure Directory. Courtney’s foundation belief is that nature heals and we all need more of it.
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/theunpopularblack
- Website: www.theunpopularblack.com
Stephanie N. Dawkins
Stephanie spent her childhood outdoors at her paternal grandparents’ farm. It was there she assisted her grandfather in taking care of the farm animals, gardening with her grandmother and enjoyed hiking, camping and anything that included nature.
At 36, being quarantined, Stephanie found going back into nature was the only way to relieve her of the pressures 2020 presented us all with.
In August, Stephanie invited friends to join her hiking and Black Girls Hike Too and a community of black women hiking began.
One of Stephanie’s objectives with this passion project is to debunk myths that black women are “afraid” of the outdoors. With her Black Girls Hike Too! declaration, Stephanie emphasizes that Black women can hike, camp, swim, kayak, canoe, hunt, fish and take up space in the great outdoors as well.
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/blackgirlshiketoo
- Website: www.blackgirlshiketoo.com
Mic Crenshaw
Mic Crenshaw was born and raised in Chicago and Minneapolis. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Crenshaw is an independent Hip Hop artist, respected emcee, poet, educator, and activist.
Crenshaw is the lead U.S. organizer for the African HipHop Caravan and uses cultural activism as a means to develop international solidarity related to Human Rights and Justice through Hip Hop and Popular Education.
In his teenage years, Crenshaw actively confronted white supremacist gangs that were a growing part of the hardcore music scene. Mic eventually moved to Portland, where he quickly became one of the most respected artists in the Pacific Northwest.
Since 2012, Mic has toured in Cuba, Russia, Germany, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya and other countries where he facilitated Hip Hop Cultural Exchange opportunities for youth.
His community efforts have had both local and international impact. In addition to his highly-acclaimed work in spoken word and Hip Hop, Mic co-founded GlobalFam, a non-profit (EducationWithOut Borders 501c3) project to create and maintain a computer center for disadvantaged youth in Burundi, Central Africa.
Over 400 people have received free training through this nonprofit, and his organization is now expanding, generating revenue and creating jobs.
Mic also partnered with Education WithOut Borders (EWOB), which supports education, music and art initiatives in Portland and beyond and serves as an umbrella for the local Books For Prisoners chapter and GlobalFam itself. He was voted Portland Oregon’s best Hip Hop Artist in 2016.
Crenshaw is currently a Teaching Artist in Residence at multiple schools and a co-producer of the It Did Happen Here Podcast and the Rose City Rising City Wide Youth Hip Hop Compilation.
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/miccrenshaw
- Website: www.miccrenshaw.com/home
The Love is King – Operation ROAM Facilitators
Monica Scherer
Director of Outreach for the Alaska Wilderness league.
Monica develops and manages volunteer efforts for all the Leagues campaigns across the continental United States and coordinates efforts between partner organizations. She strives to empower and support individuals and organizations to engage in meaningful actions on behalf of Alaska’s public lands.
Monica joined the Alaska Wilderness League in January of 2007 as a field organizer and later started the Alaska Wild Educator Network, growing it to more than 1,000 educators across the country. Prior to working at the League, she worked at the League of Conservation Voters and for Representative John Dingell (D-MI).
She has a B.S. in Environmental Policy and Behavior from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Widener University.
Chad Brown
Founder and President of Soul River Inc. and Love Is King
Chad is the founder and president of Soul River Inc., a nonprofit organization that focuses on connecting veterans and introducing diverse urban youth of color to the outdoors, nature conservation and growing young leaders into advocacy for our public lands, wildlife and freshwater.
Chad is also founder and president of a second nonprofit Love is King that he leads with the mission to dismantle the hate, bigotry, ignorance and racism in the outdoors for BIPOC and all marginalized groups to have the opportunity to roam further and bolder in the outdoors and create wonderful memories for themselves without having to face any aggression.
The focus of Love is King is increasing the access and safety in the outdoors. Brown is also a Navy veteran, accomplished documentary-style portrait photographer, and creative director operating Chado Communication Design and Soul River Studios.
Alejandro Orizola
Field Medic
Alejandro was born and raised in Northern California, a resident of Oakland the last 14 years. He graduated from California State University Sacramento with a degree in history, focusing on California’s rich past.
Alejandro has worked the past 20 years in state service, currently working for the California Environmental Protection Agency in the Office of Environmental Equity. Alejandro enjoys fly fishing, camping and backpacking, softball, Barcelona futbol, traveling and spending time with his animals.
He’s most passionate about environmental justice, conservation and stewardship, preferring to spend as much time possible in nature.
Meet Bernadette Demientieff: Gwich’in Leader
“The Gwich’in and the porcupine caribou herd have had a spiritual and cultural connection since time immemorial,” Our identity is non-negotiable, we will never sell our culture and our traditional lifestyle for any amount of money. I’m just trying to protect my children birthright, their future and their way of life.”
Bernadette Demientieff – Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee
The Gwich’in Steering Committee was formed in 1988 in response to proposals to drill for oil in the Sacred Place Where Life Begins, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Gwich’in elders recognized that oil development in caribou calving grounds was a threat to the very heart of their people.
They called upon the chiefs of all Gwich’in villages, from Canada to Alaska, to come together for a traditional gathering—the first in more than a century. During that gathering, it was decided unanimously that the Gwich’in would speak with one voice against oil and gas development in the birthing and nursing grounds of the Porcupine Caribou Herd.
As the Executive Director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, Bernadette stands strong to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain, the Porcupine Caribou Herd and the Gwich’in way of life.
The ROAM Leadership Team and Bernadette Demientieff will unite, collaborate and discover the real world issues of The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; the people, the politics, the human rights struggles, the cultural consequences, the environmental impact and the significance of climate change.
The objective is to develop creative and strategic methods to support the Gwich’in as they lead the effort to protect their sacred lands in the Arctic Refuge.
Learn more about Bernadette Demientieff and the Gwich’in Steering Committee at www.ourarcticrefuge.org.
Learn More About The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Located in northeastern Alaska, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is America’s largest wildlife refuge, encompassing more than nineteen million acres. Additionally, the Arctic Refuge is home to some of the most delicate and at-risk ecosystems on the planet, which are threatened by both climate change and fossil fuel development within the Refuge.
The rate at which Alaska’s temperature has been warming is twice as fast as the global average since the middle of the 20th century. Indigenous people in the Arctic are experiencing these impacts at a disproportionate rate.
Climate change-related impacts in the Arctic include increased wildfires, drought, flooding and erosion, as well as decreases in wildlife populations and changes in migratory routes. All of this poses significant threats to the food security and way of life for Indigenous communities in the Arctic.
You can find much more information about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Alaska Wilderness League at www.alaskawild.org.