BROTHER YUSUF’S GIFT: One man who made a difference
Brother Yusuf Burgess was a great man. He was also a good man. Humble, kind, gentle and strong, Brother Yusuf changed thousands of lives for the better. He did this through his work connecting so many young people to the natural world, but also by example.
Brother Yusuf died on Friday night.
Pictured: Brother Yusuf Burgess.
It is almost impossible to imagine the past growth of the children and nature movement without Brother Yusuf, and difficult to conceive of the future of the movement without him. But he will be there.
The list of his achievements is too long to be fully represented here, but here are a few of his contributions: He served as the Executive Director of the Youth Ed-Venture and Nature Network, as a former Gang Prevention Coordinator for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, as a founding member of the New York State Outdoor Education Association Diversity Committee and as a member of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks.
And for years he helped build the Children & Nature Network, most recently as a C&NN Board Member Emeritus.
In 2011, he received the Andrew Goodman Foundation Hidden Heroes Award for his work with Green Tech High’s Boys Outdoor Leadership Program. Among those at the ceremony were Cicely Tyson, Harry Belafonte, Billie Jean King and Governor David Patterson.
None of this came easily. Brother Yusuf (as he preferred to be called after his conversion to Islam) grew up in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects in the 1950s and 1960s.
“One of my brothers, called ‘Bird,’ was the warlord of a notorious gang, the Marcy Chaplains,” he wrote in 2012. “For most of my early childhood, I was ‘Bird’s Brother’ and safe to walk the troubled streets. My mother made sure I often escaped the crowded projects by visiting Prospect Park. By nine years old, I could get there alone by bus or subway. I would wander the park, identifying trees, catching bumble bees in jelly jars and filling paper cups with tadpoles to raise at home.
“In the park was a favorite tree I’d climb and get lost in the canopy, unseen by the rest of world….It’s the ‘Place’ I can, even now, return to at any moment when I am stressed or need to meditate and rest.”
He endured more than his share of pain. Brother Yusuf saw his first combat in Vietnam at the age of seventeen. Twenty years went by before he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Two decades of isolation, separation, substance abuse, incarceration and almost a mastery of avoidance techniques that left me very lonely and alienated even in a crowd and especially within a family,” he recalled. “It was the combination of a 12-step program and being prescribed kayaking by a clinical psychologist that put me back on the road to recovery and back into the mainstream of life.”
He is now known throughout the United States for his pioneering work taking youth from urban areas into the Adirondacks – kayaking, camping, skiing, hiking and fly-fishing. And his leadership and compassion have inspired programs that heal children and adults around the world.
Brother Yusuf liked to end his emails with this quote from Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” That’s true, but individuals count. John F. Kennedy famously said, “One man can make a difference and every man should try.” Brother Yusuf Burgess made a difference.
He had been ill, on and off, for several years, but had rebounded in recent months – fully, it seemed. In October, I spent a few hours with Brother Yusuf and his wonderful wife, Cherrie, in upstate New York. He had brought a dozen or so young people from Albany with him. I saw how they looked at him. If there is a heaven, it was in their eyes.
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For those of you who would like to share your memories of Brother Yusuf and thoughts about his work, please leave a reply at the bottom of this page. We will send your words to his family, of whom he was immensely proud.
Brother Yusuf Burgess on Effects of Time in Nature on Inner City Kids, a video clip of Brother Yusuf, from Camilla Rockwell’s fine documentary, “Mother Nature’s Child.”
The Wilderness Act 50 Years Later, a recent TV interview with Brother Yusef. He appears at 18:35.
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Commentaries on the C&NN website are offered to share diverse points-of-view from the global children and nature movement and to encourage new thinking and debate. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of C&NN. C&NN does not officially endorse every statement, report or product mentioned.