Juneteenth offers an opportunity to reflect on the wildlife linked to a people’s transformation
For Native Americans, kéya symbolizes wisdom. For Europeans, bears are an important element of their history. What animals mean the most to you, and why do they hold such significance? Cultures worldwide have empowering relationships with wild animals and knowing those animals promotes a deeper connection to spirituality, geography and pride.
We share Earth with nearly 6,000 mammal species. In general, what most Black people think they know about mammals stems from animation and pop culture, but please remember Disney and rap music are not subject matter experts. So unfortunately, when it comes to our relationship with the wildlife around us, the problem historian Carter Goodwin Woodson wrote about in his seminal 1933 book, The Mis-Education of the Negro continues.
Sadly, dogs have long played a role in Black trauma. White people trained dogs to track down so-called runaways to aid lynching efforts, and to terrify protestors during civil rights demonstrations. Thankfully, in later years, we have been able to reap the benefits bestowed from “man’s best friend.” We use dogs to support agricultural activities by herding, protecting, and chasing pests away.
Spirituality, folklore and often Christianity have served to stabilize, embolden and preserve Black Americans through the ages. Putting a famous Bible verse, Ephesians 6:11, into practice, many of us have had to “armor up” when facing either general society or known enemies. Therefore, we revere mammals that possess weaponry to aid in their survival, from the spines of hedgehogs to the quills of porcupines to the tusks of walruses.
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