Black people have a long history of making something out of nothing.
In fact, while in the process of making due over time, gun ownership, fishing, and hunting have enabled Black folks to uphold self-sustained communities (e.g. the 50 Black Oklahoma towns created in the aftermath of the Civil War.)
Unfortunately, this form of self-determination for Black folks isn’t as widely celebrated as it is in white communities.
There are many white athlete content creators who monetize their love for the outdoors, yet the opposite is true for their Black counterparts.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz and his brother have “Wentz Bros Outdoors” with 68,000 Instagram followers and 6,500 YouTube subscribers. Former Nashville Predators center Mike Fisher co-owns “Catchin’ Deers,” an outdoor lifestyle brand. Same goes for retired WWE Superstar Shaun Michaels, who launched his own hunting show called “MacMillian River Adventures.”
So where’s the comparable imprint when it comes to Black athletes who are avid hunters?
Some, like Cliff Cadet, aim to change the narrative.
Cadet, a Queens, New York resident and a former distance runner and basketball player, picked up bowhunting in 2019 as a way to remain active after an injury.
Cadet revels in his place as a conversation piece for those who may not have previously met a Black hunter.
“Originally I picked up a bow just as an activity for me to just do,” said Cadet, a UPS truck driver who has hunted and harvested deer and turkeys. “It turns out we had a couple of local archery ranges here in the city, and maybe about a year or so later — looking through social media — hunting started to pique my interest and I went from there.
“I tell people there’s a huge tradition of Black people hunting. I’m saying like their fathers or their grandfathers did it — and so on and so forth. When I tell people of color who are not hunters, there’s a lot of apprehension. They would say: ‘ Aren’t you afraid of being the victim of a hate crime? Are you scared of being shot, or you think you’re white?’”
Black Athletes Hunt
When Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Trae Waynes leaned into hunting, he harbored feelings of not being accepted by the hunting community due to the color of his skin.
That hesitancy subsided when he bought his own land to hunt on, and later became an owner of a hunting outfitting company.
“Just the typical stereotypes. ‘Oh, African Americans aren’t really big in the hunting community,”’ said Waynes. “I mean there’s some out there, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not as prevalent, so a lot of people aren’t really used to seeing that. My initial concern was: ‘OK, well how are people going to you know take it?’ This is an outfitter that is owned by an African American — they’re probably not used to seeing that.”
While some believe Black folks joining hunting communities is a new — and possibly unexpected— trend, many of them learned the age-old practice from family members and the parents of friends as a mechanism of survival, not a hobby.
Many Black folks have Southern roots where they most likely picked up hunting from a family member. Post-Civil War, Black hunters served as guides in quail hunting and other small game.
Continue reading over at First and Pen.
This content has been brought to you by First and Pen in partnership with TheHub.News. First and Pen — “Informing, inspiring and connecting through voices of color in sports.”
