Dear Susan,
"In conversations such as this, that term is most often used by white people who feel uncomfortable discussing issues of racism." I guess this statement should be accepted as fact just because it's your opinion? Thanks for proving my point.
I'm done with this discussion, and I'm 100% certain others are sick of it as well. Thanks to the dozen or so list birders who privately emailed me in complete agreement with my posts. I will not, however, bog down this list with anything else on the topic of whether or not birders should be pilloried for wearing camouflage clothing, owning a camouflage patterned spotting scope, etc. I'll leave that to others if they really want the topic to continue.
The Conway Daily Sun article was very poorly written and relayed to the list, and as one of the birders who emailed me pointed out and I didn't initially catch, the birders in the accompanying photo weren't even the ones in the article! Just a photo of some other birders lazily substituted by the writer. Is it any wonder that subscriptions to print newspapers are in a free fall to the bottom? My sincerest apologies for my not catching that idiotic error earlier, before posting. That's just the state of "journalism" today, I guess. I would, however, suggest to the individuals in the photo (whoever they are) look into taking a certain newspaper to court.
Good birding?
Sean Smith
On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 3:41 PM Susan Guare <susanguare@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Sean,I was hesitant to enter this discussion, as most of what I would say has been said, but silence can be mistaken for agreement.As I'm sure you know, people call the police on other people for many reasons, most of which have nothing to do with burning buildings or destroying property. Sometimes, they're having a barbecue or jogging. Sometimes, they're entering their own home. Sometimes they're SLEEPING in their own home. I agree with Craig.Encouraging people to recognize privileges they may have in particular situations is not "racial divisiveness". In conversations such as this, that term is most often used by white people who feel uncomfortable discussing issues of racism. l encourage you to not let any feelings of discomfort override the very real underlying issue: If these birders were black, they may well not have survived that police call.And what, exactly, does a terrorist "look like"? Given that, and your citation to "burning down local businesses" as an example of terrorism, I think you should not use the term dog-whistle.Susan Guare.On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 1:15 PM Sean S <therefromhere168@gmail.com> wrote:Hi Kristen,I'm somewhat at a loss at how to respond to your rhetoric, since you've made no attempt to refute a single fact or any of the actual information I stated in my post.However, to me it's extremely unsettling that you would say something like "Craig's comment should at the very least have given pause to the white birders on this list-serve (which I'm betting is most of the list-serve, unfortunately"). Really Kristen? To me this sounds like actual racism.My post was to provide actual information and context, which I did, and I stand by. If you disagree with or have corrections to any of actual my points, please address it, and put down the dog whistle. And while you accuse me of having "white privilege", how certain can you be that I identify as white? You really are overstepping into areas of personal harassment and race baiting which have little to do with birding, and which I think you should reconsider your words.Sean Smith:--On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 12:20 PM Kristen Lindquist <kelindquist@gmail.com> wrote:Hi Sean,Your rude and dismissive response to Charles Duncan's post and Craig Kesselheim's follow-up comment really seems uncalled for.First of all, Charles was quoting a non-birder friend, who cannot be expected to know a Cedar from a Bohemian Waxwing. But that's less important than the fact that Charles was simply sharing the information he'd received to suggest that in the current, incendiary political situation, we birders creeping around in neighborhoods-not-our-own might think a little bit about the optics. Not bad advice, depending on where one is birding these days.Was the Gorham, NH situation an overreaction, even absurd? Probably. But to be able to scoff at it is only possible from a place of white privilege. This past year a white woman in Central Park threatened to call the police on a black birder--an action that could easily have cost him his life--simply because he (rightly) told her to put her dog on a leash,. While this might be the most publicized situation of a black birder's vulnerability simply for being black and outside, it is far far from the only one. Yes, birders of color experience racism while they're out birding, probably much more than you could ever imagine.So I'm not quite sure how it is "racially divisive" to point out that the Gorham, NH situation could have gone a lot differently if the birders were black. At the very least I hope we can all think about our own responses to Charles's initial post--perhaps, if you're white, like me, you gave a little laugh and shook your head, and didn't think any more about it. But a person of color would have taken that story much more seriously, because they would know that it only takes one "loony" to call the police on a black person, whatever they're wearing. And if you have paid any attention in the past year, we all know how little it takes to escalate that kind of situation into tragedy. Craig's comment should at the very least have given pause to the white birders on this list-serve (which I'm betting is most of the list-serve, unfortunately); it invited a moment of empathy, of which Martin Luther King, Jr. was a big advocate.May you too learn to find some empathy on a day in which we celebrate this great man.KristenOn Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 11:23 AM Sean S <therefromhere168@gmail.com> wrote:Here's the actual article, since you didn't provide one, or any context whatsoever:Do these people look at all like terrorists? No, they look like a typically motley group of birders, and only 4 of the 14 shown in the photo are wearing camo, although a couple of them have camouflage patterned spotting scopes, which I'm sure quite a few people on this list own themselves.If they were Black folks would they look like terrorists? No, and I don't see how race even enters into this discussion.Were any of these birders burning down local businesses or destroying property? No. In fact, they were probably contributing to the local economy, as the writer of the article mentions. They were not cited or even asked to disperse, or change their attire.Were the birds actually Cedar Waxwings eating crabapples, which you snarkily reference a "apparently a big deal because it's most unusual"? No. They were Bohemian Waxwings, which most of us consider to be a good sighting.While as a choice I don't wear camo to bird, I certainly wouldn't be changing my apparel habits to appease the sole loony in town who felt compelled to make an issue out of a non-issue. Context is very necessary to this article, as it seems to escape even its author: Gorham, NH is in a fairly remote wilderness area, where, due to hunting, camo is as common as LL Bean polo shirts are in Freeport.Enough of the racial divisiveness being pushed as political correctness! Especially on Martin Luther King Day. Dr. King's message was one of unity, not stoking division. Don't believe me? Read his words.Sean Smith--On Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 4:20 PM Charles Duncan <charles.d.duncan@gmail.com> wrote:Hi all,Wanted to share this note from a non-birder friend in NH, and suggest that we all think perhaps a little more than usual about what we wear in the field in the coming days:---------------------------There's a news story today about a bunch of birdwatchers traveling to Gorham NH to see cedar waxwings eating crabapples—apparently a big deal because it's most unusual. So this made the news because many of the birders were wearing camo duds & a local feared that they might be domestic terrorists which does seem a stretch but, nonetheless, do they really need to be dressed in camouflage? Guess a forestry employee, who's also a birder, asked the group to not dress in camo when they are in town. Guess we are all a bit on edge these days...--------------------------------
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