Erin Monahan, founder of Terra Incognita Media, shares what it’s been like behind the scenes at Terra, what it has taken to build the platform you see today, and some exciting shifts that are going to happen as we enter 2020. She writes, “Some of the original people who answered my call for support ended up leaving because my vision changed. It went from a feminist/political climbing journal, as embarrassing as that is to admit, to the feminist response to the outdoor industry that is today. It’s nothing like it was at the beginning because the platform has evolved as I have evolved. I hope in ten years it’s nothing like it is today.”

Fuck Columbus. This day is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Our platform is dedicated to speaking the truth of this land’s history, not perpetuating the vile origin myth of “this land is your land, this land is my land.” The US resides on stolen land. We are unwavering in our solidarity with Indigenous peoples in the struggle for sovereignty.

This image and caption of Alex Honnold and Pattie Gonia posing together brings forward some questions: Who gets the privilege to perform queerness without consequence? When did the word “ally” become an identity or label? Has “allyship” lost it’s meaning? Is it no longer a verb that requires action?

Our society is propelled and propped up by white supremacist fictions like the belief that genitals determine gender, that the only form of valid intimacy is between a cis man and a cis woman, and that marriage is the only time you are allowed to have sex. Unlearning these beliefs is crucial to mental, emotional, psychological, and spiritual health. 

Instead of playing it safe we need leaders who are going to speak the truth without hesitation because they know America was never something to have "faith in." America has never been great. It has always been an ongoing settler-colonial project to this day.

From Hurricane Harvey, to Hurricane Florence, and now with Hurricane Dorian, it is clear our government does care about incarcerated people, an already vulnerable population, made even more vulnerable in these times of natural crises.

According to the April 2019 report by the National Partnership for Women and Families, “Black women in the United States who work full-time, year-round are typically paid 61 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men,” a fact pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau 2018. Race, gender, class, and ability, are just a few major factors that impact Black womxn’s ability to get paid what they deserve. It’s not just a matter of learning how to negotiate a pay raise.

Is it Really Self-love if it’s Anti-Black?

Can we get to self-acceptance and self-love if we have been indoctrinated into an anti-fat and anti-Black mentality? Am I really “body-positive” if I am anti-fat and anti-Black? If I’m not working against these oppressive forces in my psyche then I am definitely not anywhere near “body-positive.” Are your favorite white “body-positive” influencers talking about the fact that we have historically demonized and dehumanized fat Black womxn and femmes?

Dana Martin. Jazzaline Ware. Ashanti Carmon. Claire Legato. Muhlaysia Booker. Michelle Washington. Paris Cameron. Johana Medina. Chynal LIndsey. Chanel Scurlock. TeTe Gulley. Zoe Spears.

These Black trans womxn have been killed since the beginning of 2019.

This is a call to action for my fellow white people of the gym, the white people in management, the white people who work there: interrogate your inherent racism, transphobia, homophobia and work against it. Say those words out loud and discuss them. They are not dirty words. They are lived realities. Action that is performative, like a free one day belay lesson during Pride month, is only serving to uphold the current status quo. Planet Granite will look like an “ally,” will get some pats on the back, call it “baby steps,” and then go back to business as usual. It is not good enough.

The farmed landscape blurred as we sped down the highway, our thoughts never lingering on the fact that we are colonizers traveling to Osage, Miami, and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) territories about to move into a house that sits on land that is not ours.

Christian Beckwith and I confront similar internal issues, aside from his position of power as a cis male. As a white woman I am constantly questioning why I enter into the work, spaces, conversations, that I engage in. Where do I need to check myself? How can I check myself in order to prevent harm? I ask myself questions that I wish Christian Beckwith would ask himself: How can I stop myself from acting on my superiority complex? How can I stop myself from needing to be included in everything, or how can I heal my need to share my opinion on everything? Is this my whiteness taking over, or do I genuinely have something to contribute of actual value? Will this add to what is happening, or am I doing this/saying this for myself just to center myself?”

It is impossible to stay “neutral” when harm has occurred and survivors come forward with their stories. When someone claims to be “neutral” they are choosing complicity. To stay silent and not speak out against that harm is to allow it to continue. As reporters and witnesses, especially if we are white folx, it is necessary to speak out against this violence. To avoid doing so is to avoid holding the perpetrator of the harm, in this case SHIFT and Beckwith, accountable.

The violence experienced at SHIFT is for white people to take action against, and yet, over and over again, it’s BIWOC and Queer BIPOC that are on the frontlines. I want to give immense gratitude and praise to the 17 individuals who came forward to stand up for themselves and to not take shit any longer. Yes, it’s true, any movement we support should have BIWOC at the helm, but in this case, the people harmed were forced to take action when it could have been prevented. It gets to this point because white people don’t listen and believe BIWOC and Queer BIPOC in the FIRST place.

#StopGlorifyingJohnMuir and support Indigenous Women Hike and Terra Incognita Media!