You matter, I matter, Representation matters!

By Alex Troutman, Safina Center Junior Fellow

Photo courtesy Alex Troutman

Growing up, I loved science and knew I was going to work with wildlife. At the time, I didn’t really know in what capacity that would be. I wanted to be a wildlife conservationist like Steve Irwin (The Crocodile Hunter) and  Jeff Corwin; even thought about being a zookeeper like Jack Hannah. While I was exposed to these careers, they didn’t seem attainable for a Black Kid from a small (at that time) town called Austell. There are many reasons these careers were seemingly out of reach for me, the main one being I never saw anyone who looked like me in these career fields, and it wasn’t for a lack of effort. I watched hours of TV, and searched the Web—even using the magic phrases “Black” or “African American”—in front of various wildlife job titles, to no avail.

In person, the exposure wasn’t any better, from adolescence to adulthood I visited many State and National Parks, as well as several zoos and aquariums. I did not come across anyone who looked liked me until I started working at the Georgia Aquarium in my early 20’s. Now, here in my 30’s, I know there’s still a “few specks of pepper in a bowl full of grits” situation (lack of diversity) going on in the wildlife field, and despite an increase in the number of Black wildlife professionals, exposure is still limited. 

Photo courtesy Alex Troutman

You can be a Wildlife Biologist and be unapologetically 100% your blackity Black self. Black, Brown and other People-of-Color kids need to see scientists that look like them doing science. I have had the pleasure of seeing eyes light up and mouths drop from students as I, someone who looks like them, enter the room and tell them that I’m a Wildlife Biologist. Seeing that mirror (a black face across from you) opens up the room for so much more than just science; but also lived experiences and struggles that you overcame that may be shared with some of the students.

The connection that comes with not only being another individual with a Black complexion, but having walked down the same streets to the same corner stores, allows for bonds to form that are unlike any other. You can joke about walking back home with a bag of chips and a drink, while explaining the importance of recycling and limiting waste, and then speak about parking-lot birds and how birds mate, to ending with, “Yes I really do hold those big birds (Canada Geese) and I’m not afraid of them biting me because of the experience and training I have gained.”

If we want more diverse science fields, we have to show that scientists are not the cookie-cutter-mold picture on TV. Usually a middle-aged white man in a lab coat. We have to show that not only are black people doing science, but we are doing science as our authentic selves.

Science Matters, Exposure Matters, Black Lives Matters, and Representation Matters!

Photo courtesy Alex Troutman