One of my dearest neighbors where I live in Brooklyn is an 80 year old Pin Oak tree. Our windows look out into the canopy of their branches and sturdy trunk, and it feels like living in a tree house.
I love Pin Oak. They give the best hugs. The part of their trunk that faces our building has a slight indent in it that makes you feel held by them when you’re hugging. Sometimes there’s so much trash at Pin Oak’s roots, I can’t reach them to give them a hug. No matter how often I try to clear off Pin Oak’s feet, there is always more. Sometimes the rest of life feels too crushing to pick up trash that will reappear a few hours later. Then shame gets in the way of our hugs. But still I try when I am able.
When the Canarsee and Marechkawiek clans of the Lenape tribe stewarded this land, this part of Brooklyn used to be an Oak Forest. I think about my feeble attempts at stewardship of one single tree that I love deeply. We could all learn much from Oak. As adrienne maree brown tells us in Emergent Strategy:
“Oak trees don’t set an intention to listen to each other better, or agree to hold tight to each other when the next storm comes. Under the earth, always, they reach for each other, they grow such that their roots are intertwined and create a system of strength that is as resilient on a sunny day as it is in a hurricane.”
What if we reach for each other too? We settlers have not been practiced at stewardship for a long time. Our ancestors who were in deep relationship with the land had to disconnect from those parts of themselves to be able to carry out colonization, extraction, and genocide. Our bodies carry all of these things. How do we unearth the old way of being in relationship? I want to spend the rest of my life reconnecting to the parts of myself that know how to recognize all living things as kin. It's uncomfortable and hard and something I need to practice over and over again. It's also joyful and funny and sweet, and it’s a lot easier to practice in community. Want to come practice with us?
On Saturday, September 27th at 10am (rain or shine), we’ll gather at Inwood Hill Park with folks from the NYC Parks Department’s Natural Resources Group, who have been doing incredible restoration work on this land. They’ll talk to us about the Indigenous history of this specific land, the ecology of the site and the way it's been transformed over time, and how they are working to increase capacity for Indigenous collaborations. Afterwards, join us to share food and company — BYO lunch, and a snack to share. Sign up here if you’re planning on coming; we’re so looking forward to being with you.
Can’t make it this time? We’re hoping that this will become a regular practice of ours, so stay tuned for more events, and join us for Book Club on October 13th where we’ll be talking about “The Gift of Strawberries,” the third chapter in Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. In the meantime, you could find out who your tree neighbors are and introduce yourself to them. You could learn about how to care for them. You could find out what the land you live on now used to be like and about the people who first stewarded that land. See you soon.
With love and gratitude,
Kristin and the Indigenous Solidarity team: Elana, Sarah, Alison, Kyle, Grace, & Katharine
