California-based Rue Mapp travelled to the Vineyard at the end of July to introduce Islanders to Outdoor Afro, which she founded and is CEO of.
SMF board member Amy Weinberg hosted a tomato tasting at Beetlebung Farm in honor of Mapp, who spoke about her desire to connect “Black people to the outdoors.” “Sometimes you’re asked a question by someone you love and trust and it’s the right question at the right time,” said Mapp at the late afternoon event.
The question she was asked was, “If money was not an issue what would you do?” The woman who asked it, was seasonal Vineyard resident Freada Kapor Klein, who is a friend, mentor, and inspiration to Mapp. “It was like putting a key in a lock that turned. It was a magic moment,” said Mapp. Kapor Klein’s question came shortly after Michael Brown, an unarmed Black man, was shot to death by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. “I asked myself, ‘What am I going to do?’” said Mapp.
Mapp grew up in California on fourteen acres of land which gave her a deep appreciation for the natural world, and the answer that she came up with was: “You do nature Rue, that’s what you do.” And so she started Outdoor Afro, which, according to the organization’s website, “connects thousands of people to nature experiences, who are changing the face of conservation.”