Racism everywhere, even in nature:
The new Woodlums outdoors group was created by black students for black students to foster a greater appreciation of nature and break down “stigma,” according to Annenberg Media, a student-led news outlet at the university.“I just think that, especially when we take a look at how nature has been associated with Black people in the past, especially in America, I think it’s important for us to understand how to rebuild it and…release a lot of stigmas that we might still have around it,” USC senior Caleb Flenoury said.A member of Woodlums, Flenoury said nature sometimes can be associated with slavery and “Black people hanging from trees.”That is where Woodlums comes in. The student organization, which began last year, works to “address the individual and communal, mental and bodily harms of environmental racism by organizing nature-focused activities and trips for Black students on campus,” according to its Instagram account.The name of the group is a play on the word “hoodlums,” student co-founder Nia McMillan told the Daily Trojan student newspaper.
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