This article also available as a podcast here.
I finished my first full length article in December of 2020. You will read it in the next post. Today is April of 2021.
The road to writing the article was a long one, and the road to editing it was even longer. The first draft was 30 pages.
I would like to give a deep thanks to Erin Monahan of Terra Incognita Media who was the single force in convincing me to flesh out my Instagram post speaking out against the film Hip Hop Gone Wild. The article quickly became expansive and clear: policy has everything to do with BIPOC climbers.
Through this blog I hope to inform and empower BIPOC climbers while scrutinizing the policies and procedures which influence our lives. The main inspiration for this came from Ibram X. Kendi’s books. Policy is everything. Policy is power. Policy is where real change happens.
Due to a number of small hurdles, the release date of my article got pushed back time and again. The original platform it was to be published on became a non viable option. There is no single reason for this, however, the decision for me to publish it myself mostly stems from there being a lack of a platform for and by Black climber’s articles whose opinion is of a more harsh and true reality in nature.
The other main reason to break off and release immediately was a trip to where the film was recorded. Being in that space and on the stomping grounds of She Moves Mountains and Becca Droz opened my eyes. I was in Smith Rock for 2 weeks and in that time I took inventory of the climbers there. I saw no other Black people climbing and at least 10 Asian people. It was even Spring break for Washington! This speaks further to the isolation in which this film was produced from any Black culture.
In the next couple blogs you will read my article addressing this issue further. It is meant to provoke critical thought and discussion as well as inform. I hope you enjoy it.
A new segment to the article will be posted every day until its conclusion. Subscribe to get notifications of each release and other articles in the future.
Sincerely,
Crystal Rose
Climbing, BIPOC, and Policy 