Stories from the Eastside - Black Roots in the National Parks
Buddy Jones has put down many Black Roots in our National Parks. In the past 50 years he has floated down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, hiked in…
Buddy Jones has put down many Black Roots in our National Parks. In the past 50 years he has floated down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, hiked in Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Jackson Hole. He has toured the Redwoods, Mesa Verde, Brice, Zion, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Saguaro, Pinnacles and the Petrified Forest National Parks. But his most rewarding experience has come from completing construction projects in the Sequoia and Yosemite Parks, particularly in the restoration of the Giant Forest.
Sequoia National Park - Bridge built in 1995 by Buddy’s Contracting Service, Inc.
Buddy’s deepest roots can be found in Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. Much of his life’s work and recreation has taken root in the paths, walls and bridges of these majestic locations.
He has joined the lineage of the Buffalo Soldiers, continuing their park-building work. From 1990 to 2003 Buddy Contracting Service, Inc. completed over $17 million dollars of restoration projects in the parks. There are stone bridges, buildings, roads and retaining walls that his team erected or repaired that will continue to provide access to the parks for years to come.
Throughout his working career, he has befriended hundreds of people while sharing his passion for the parks. In addition to work he organized dozens of camping trips for members of the Tulare Boys and Girls Club.
Living While Black in America. As a young African American during the Civil Rights Movement he was directly impacted by the overt racism of that era. Although awarded an athletic scholarship, discrimination at San Jose State was intolerable. He was ready to quit when he was recruited by John Madden and Don Coryell to play football at San Diego State. Moving his family to San Diego immediately turned into a trial by fire when several of his housing applications were turned down. A Black man with a White wife and two mixed-race children were not wanted in most San Diego neighborhoods. Eventually he found a rental far from the college only to find hostile neighbors, brandishing guns and confederate flags in their trucks.
Crossroads. To protect his wife and two baby boys, he purchased a gun to conduct target practice in his backyard, alerting neighbors he was armed and unafraid. Although he had broken bread with Martin Luther King and Joan Baez, he was well aware of his options to join the Black Power Movement. He knew joining either camp would unfold hardship.
Mastering The We. Buddy chose community work. After college, he began working as a youth counselor. In the late sixties he was introduced to a fledgling self-help therapeutic community that was providing housing and education for recovering addicts. This organization, Synanon Foundation was not only a mixed race group of misfits, they had established their own school that served the children of residents. He was asked to provide then, what every American business, school, police department and non-profit organization wants today. He was asked to be a black role model. A hard worker. A great father. A citizen engaged in building community. The goal: To help build a community that is working toward ending racism.
Buddy and Friends in Synanon – Santa Monica 1968
Crossing the Black/White Divide. He moved his family into Synanon. Right around the time Martin Luther King was assassinated and buildings were burning in Watts, he met Rod Mullen, a White activist. A White man and a Black man both in their late twenties, married with kids decide to confront their own prejudices. Buddy and Rod made a pact to spend the next two years building a friendship.
When Talk Is Cheap. Buddy was a runner. Rod was a rock climber. They agreed to run and climb together. The theater for this drama was played out dozens of times on the cliffs and paths of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. Running tested their endurance. Rock climbing provided frequent life-threatening experiences that could only be overcome by extending trust to each other. There were many, many times when this White man had to trust this Black man. There were just as many times this Black man had to trust this White man. Over 50 years later these two old guys still refer to each other as my best friend.
Rod Mullen and his wife Naya went on to revive and expand Amity Foundation, an organization that helps ex-convicts and recovering addicts start a new life.
Buddy has put down roots in Visalia. Over the last 15 years he has been collecting wood that the rivers deliver from the National Parks. He identifies the woods’ origins and then observes each piece to find it a new identity. After carving and polishing, Buddy creates outstanding works of art. Although he is no longer running a contracting business, his work never seems to end. Buddy Jones and Friends is a group he created that you can find on TOTA.world. They meet every week to share war stories in the battle against violence, discrimination and other forms that racism takes. He continues to challenge visiting groups to do what he and Rod learned to do, practice “Eracism”
Eracism is the verb he uses to describe the process.
Currently he is forming a group that has adopted the name, “Drumming Under the Giants”. This will be a drum circle of many colors. Black, White and Brown. Asian and American Indian. Very young to very old. Women too. All will be welcome to participate. This group plans to convene from time to time under the Sequoias to drum, dance, share their food and share their stories.
As he has done for over 50 years, Buddy continues to bring people to our National Parks to enjoy the majesty while building bridges across racial and generational divides.
Written by,
Andre James
March 2021
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