Black Lives Don’t Matter
(Regarding the USA’s Only Black-Owned Private Overnight Summer Camp)
Dear Governor Pritzker:
Don’t tell me Black lives matter.
Don’t tell me Black lives matter when the only black-owned private residential camp in the U.S. is precluded from operating, maybe permanently.
Don’t talk emptily of how “Black lives matter”; instead, actually facilitate my black life.
Don’t tell me Black lives matter when you ban our multicultural summer camp—depriving children of an empowering experience, especially when they so badly needed the social interaction.
Don’t tell me Black lives matter when you deprive campers of the opportunity to timely address issues of social justice and inequity.
From March through June 2020, various state entities (including the DCEO, IDPH, and local health departments as directed by the IDPH) continually informed us that “all summer programs”, including overnight summer camps, would be allowed in Illinois’s Phase 4. Because of that, instead of taking the easier route and giving up on having camp, we made the emotional, financial, and logistical sacrifices to prepare to run camp safely amidst the numerous challenges. All we were told we had to do was hope that Phase 4 would happen.
Only days before our camp was scheduled to open, we were informed that overnight camps were prohibited during Phase 4—even while all of the activities that constitute camp were allowed state-wide (and indeed, many activities that are not as safe as camp). We have yet to be given a reason. (If we had, we likely could have adapted our planning).
I am a proponent of public health. This is not about that. This is about the disempowerment of children, the relative safety of overnight camp, and the principles of equity and fairness. This is about Black lives mattering for these children and their allies.
So don’t tell me Black lives matter when you willfully (or at minimum ignorantly) allow Black children and allies to be hurt. Campers were robbed of an empowering experience when they needed it so badly—to get outside, be around others, and feel safe and happy and alive. We planned to maximize their safety and protect them. And help them grow, challenge themselves, regain relative normalcy, and rebuild those reserves of positive mental health and energy. Camp was going to be the kids’ one experience of normal this summer; instead, it became just one more episode of forced isolation. Campers had their supportive “village” taken away.
Don’t tell me Black lives matter when you rob our camp families of the opportunity to help their children heal, and get a break from the stresses of sheltering in place for so long. One parent shared that, after getting the news, she cried—for the kiddos and yet another loss and lost opportunity—for her daughter and her absolute love of camp—and for the staff and extended camp family.
Don’t tell me Black lives matter when you rob our staff of a summer of a lifetime impacting young people. They put so much hard work into making camp safe and ready to go for the would-be incoming world changers. Plus, you took away their summer paychecks.
Don’t tell me Black lives matter when you rob of financial security the one Black-owned private overnight camp in the country—after it planned to overcome the numerous hurdles, challenges, struggles, directives and guidelines—knowing how important it was for campers and the camp community. Additionally, you have yet to fulfill promises of governmental support to shore up finances that were so abruptly, illogically, and inexplicably taken away.
Don’t tell me Black lives matter when you allow inequity and injustice to prevail. My Black brain’s reliance on unfulfilled promises led to hurt campers, families, and finances. There has still been no reason given for overnight camps being prohibited. Being relatively politically powerless—unlike park districts, local governments, and big lobbying groups—we were excluded from any state decision-making process. This was all the more frustrating, since all of the components of camp were allowed in various guises (i.e. outdoor rec, restaurants, campgrounds, etc.). Our Black-owned camp relied to our detriment on your Phase 4 proclamation that all summer programs would be allowed, in addition to gatherings of less than 50 people. Other activities that are inherently “riskier” are permitted; my Black self recently went by a local church with more than 50 cars in the lot, with older—uniformly white—folks exiting maskless!
So please don’t tell me Black lives matter, when the one Black-owned camp in the country is blithely ignored by the government, disregarding the importance of Camp Kupugani (and also the benefits of overnight camp generally)—especially in this moment. Lost is the chance of re-normalizing kiddos of all skin colors with important socialization after being sequestered for so long. Lost is the timeliness of important social and racial justice conversations.
Tell me Black lives matter by becoming educated on the benefits of overnight camp generally—and Camp Kupugani specifically.
Tell me Black lives matter by letting our campers know they don’t have to make up songs about the loss of Camp Kupugani this summer, or offer to start petitions or organize protests. Tell me Black lives matter by allowing our devoted campers to continue learning from the world around them, and be ready to change their worlds.
Tell me Black lives matter by at minimum having the courtesy to give a reason why you banned our multicultural summer camp.