01x02 - This is some bull....

[bunniefuu]

[Bim] We are prepared at all times.

You gotta be, 'cause we don't know

what's going to come.

A NETFLIX ORIGINAL

DOCUMENTARY SERIES

We don't know when, where.

[squawking]

Disasters strike like that.

If you don't know how to hunt,

you're going to starve out here.

[g*nsh*t]

[breathes out]

f*ck!

[laughter]

BLACK SURVIVALISTS

I think of my job

as a sort of anthropology

in which I am observing American people

as they go about their business.

[coffee machine sizzles]

I'm from London, England.

It's one thing to observe American culture

from across an ocean,

but it's quite another to live in America

and be writing about America.

WHAT A BRITISH WOMAN LEARNED ABOU

AMERICA DURING THE CONVENTIONS

The story I'm interested in, today,

is the story of preppers.

These are survivalists who are

essentially preparing themselves

for an emergency,

whatever that may look like.

Some kind of event,

whether that be local or global,

or whatever.

In popular culture

and on the internet at large,

there is an idea

of what the prepper looks like.

They tend to be anti-big-government

and value self-determination

over all else.

And often that profile is one

of a straight white man,

who perhaps is ex-military,

is very handy with g*ns, and knives,

and other kinds of weaponry.

And the reality of course

is a lot more complicated than that.

There are people who are not at all

from that background.

Specifically in this case, I'm looking at

a very select group of people.

Black survivalists.

Major national disasters

like Hurricane Katrina,

the Flint water crisis,

Hurricane Maria, and Hurricane Harvey

are events

that have disproportionately impacted

low-income citizens

and communities of color.

I wonder if these events

are sparking a movement.

HURRICANE KATRINA

1,170 FATALITIES 53% BLACK

I found a website called The Afrovivalist.

She's a black American woman preparing

for a doomsday happening.

OFF THE GRID, USA

I want to write a story about

what motivates her to be a prepper.

She agreed to meet with me,

but I had to promise to keep her identity

and location anonymous.

If the end of the world comes,

she wants to protect her family.

One of my favorite TV shows

has a post-apocalyptic setting

and I often would joke with my friends

that if this did happen in real life,

ultimately, I wouldn't make it

to the pre-credit sequence.

I think I'm going to be quite useless.

[eagle screams]

AFROVIVALIS

[breathes in]

- [breathes out]

- [arrow swishes]

Oh!

Bull's-eye!

[laughter]

- Close enough.

- That's thrilling.

So when did you get involved

in survivalism as a lifestyle, uh

habit, or choice?

It was in my thirties where I thought,

you know,

I probably should get back

to my roots and start preparing.

Right after Katrina,

I started taking it seriously,

because of the fact

that people were suffering

and not prepared.

I said, "That's not gonna be me."

And so that's where Afrovivalist

comes in,

to help encourage people of color

to start preparing

and to teach them

what they need to do to survive.

Because a lot of us think our government

is going to take care of us.

And I'm like, "No, don't think that!"

- So now let's do you.

- Oh, okay.

[nervous laugh]

What you're going to do

is notch your arrow.

[Bim] Mm-hm.

- Step up forward.

- Mm-hm.

Take a deep breath,

and then pull when you're ready.

Push, push, push, push, push!

There you go.

And let it go when you're ready.

Oh!

- Yeah!

- Did I?

- You hit it!

- I did it!

[laughter]

- Nice job.

- Thank you.

[laughter]

Being a survivalist means

you need to be self-sustainable.

You need to learn how to live

outside of the city.

You learn how to hunt, how to fish,

and learn how to preserve that

for a long shelf life.

Have you had lots and lots

of African Americans coming

to your website

and asking specifically for advice

on how to get started?

Yes. My website has been just bombarded

with questions.

People of color

are not prepared for disaster.

They would have no idea

what to do, how to purify water,

how to preserve food,

in case they have to leave the city.

And I don't know about you,

but I don't want to be in the city

when sh*t hits the fan. Uh-uh.

This bow and arrow,

it's less about self-defense.

What is it more about for you?

- Being self-reliant

- Mm-hm.

so I can go out and get some

turkeys.

- What do you call this?

- A turkey.

- [Bim laughs]

- This is what we call a turkey.

- Mm-hm.

- And we're going to gut it.

- We're going to gut the turkey?

- Yeah, yeah.

Okay. So we're just literally skinning

this turkey.

Oh, wow! Oh, okay.

- [loud snap]

- Oh, I just heard that.

Gotta get the guts out.

[Bim laughs]

Wow.

- You all right?

- I'm great.

- Here, girl, have a heart.

- Do you know what?

That's a lovely gift. No, thanks.

[Bim] It's kind of remarkable how it goes

from looking like a once-living creature

- to just meat.

- [Afrovivalist] Isn't that amazing?

I mean that's one word for it.

[Bim] Surviving the apocalypse

isn't just about sustenance.

Afrovivalist's pro tips

also include transport and shelter.

So this is my BOV.

A bug-out vehicle.

- I have a bed

- Mm-hm.

some water.

- My bug-out bag is in here.

- And what is in a bug-out bag?

How is that different

from a bug-out vehicle?

So do you not have a bug-out bag?

I do not have a bug-out bag.

Well look what I got for you!

- Let me see what's in my bug-out bag.

- All right.

Some cutlery. A knife, a fork and a spoon.

- Yeah.

- Wonderful.

- Uh what's this? What is this?

- That's a towel.

- Wait, what?

- Take one out. I'll show you.

[Bim] What?

[she laughs]

So it's a butt wipe, a face wipe

You know?

- It's all kinds of wipe.

- Cleans dishes.

And if it gets dirty,

- you can actually reuse it.

- Perfect.

- [laughter]

- Okay.

All right, also in here is

- Oh, maxi-pads.

- You know? Maxi-pads.

Because menstruation doesn't stop,

even in a bug-out van.

- You know what?

- Mm-hm?

If you get a cut, you put that maxi-pad

right over that cut.

- Oh, yeah, they are absorbent.

- Yeah.

- All right, I love it!

- Gotta be ready for it.

This is very useful.

[closes van's door]

[fire crackles]

[Bim] Do you think that there is

a fundamental difference between

white survivalists,

and African American survivalists,

- and other survivalists of color?

- Yes.

What's the difference?

Caucasians are a lot more prepared

than we are

- Why do you think they are?

- as people of color.

Do you think it has something to do

with wealth and income?

I think it has something to do with

the lifestyle.

For us, once we were removed

from the country and into the city,

we stopped preparing.

We stopped being farmers.

So it's not something

that we kept in our

lifestyle, in our culture.

We let that go.

- You sleep well at night knowing that

- Now I do.

Now I do. But once upon a time,

a couple of years ago,

I just had this thing in my mind

about where this world is going.

You know, I see that our government

is really not about we the people anymore.

It's more about

them and their good old boys, you know.

So that worries me a lot.

- But not anymore?

- Uh-uh.

I sleep good at night.

- [laughter]

- Perfect.

I do.

- [calling Karolina Waclawlak]

- Hey, Bim.

KAROLINA WACLAWIAK, EXECUTIVE

EDITOR, CULTURE, BIM'S BOSS

So curious to hear how the story's going.

Okay. So the Afrovivalist is

kind of a magical bad-a*s.

- Um

- Wow!

Yeah.

I watched the Afrovivalist skin a turkey.

- Um

- Eugh!

Yeah, that's the correct reaction.

[laughter]

As illuminating as this was,

I can't even drive.

Like, how would I get up

to the middle of nowhere?

Yeah. I mean, we live in a city

Right.

There have to be people

who are doing this in the city.

Right, exactly.

Okay, so I'm just going to take the ticks

out of my clothes

and head back to the city.

Great.

I'll keep you posted. [laughs]

[city noises]

[Bim] I researched New York City

and black survivalists,

and found one man

who has been at the forefront

of this movement since 1989,

and has trained well over 30,000 people.

He was eager to invite me to one

of his disaster training programs

for people of color.

[man having a speech]

We haven't learned from Katrina.

We haven't learned from what's going on

in Puerto Rico right now.

[Aton] What's our community gonna do?

Look for help?

From who? The Trump Administration?

[Aton]

We are the most vulnerable communities

that exist in the United States.

That's got to end.

That's got to end, now.

Every other day on the internet,

we're hit with

another r*cist attack, and another,

and another, and another.

This is America in 2018.

You'd think that this was 1818,

the way this is going down.

- Am I wrong or am I right?

- Right.

- Ready up?

- [all in one voice] Now!

- Ready up?

- Now!

- Ready up?

- Now!

[Bim] A big part of his teaching

is taking to the streets

with real-life disaster training drills.

So today's exercise,

it's a standard nuke flash drill.

If there was a detonation

of a nuclear weapon,

the heat flash is going to produce

a pulse of light.

There's going to be glass coming at you

in this way, all kinds of debris,

people, bits and pieces of people.

So you want to get into a clear area,

and then you want to drop.

[chattering]

So, basically, you're down.

You do not get up

until you hear nothing

except moans and groans.

At that point,

you have about ten to 12 minutes

to do every single thing

that you need to do.

Let's move out.

[city traffic]

[Aton] So, we've been training

thousands of people,

not only in the New York City area,

but all across the country,

even around the world.

One of the things people don't talk about

in a detonation of a nuclear weapon

in the city is the mega fires.

Any tree that isn't blocked

is going to catch the brunt

of that pulse of light,

and that's going to ignite those trees.

So, in terms of, uh

like, the ideal location to end at,

your teaching is to go towards the water

because that's

where evacuation would occur?

The way to get out is going to be

at the points of the river.

So the thing is, that everyone came

out here today as first-line trainees

to go back into our communities,

who are the most vulnerable,

and to train them to respond

to these catastrophes

as if the government does not exist.

Because, as it is today,

and you all know this is true,

we are on our own.

We're on our own. So if we're on our own,

then we gotta do for self

like the original Black Panther Party

spoke about.

Right? It was all about doing for self.

And this is what the black community

needs to do.

[Bim] The Black Panther Party

also encouraged self-defense.

Their goal was

to strengthen their communities

and some members advocated

for fighting back against the government

and g*n ownership.

This made them controversial

to mainstream America,

which might be why

many of the preppers I spoke to

didn't want to talk about

self-defense and g*ns.

[g*nshots]

[Bim] But I did find two survivalists

who were also firearms experts.

They want to raise awareness

in black communities

about the right to bear arms legally.

When it comes to communities of color,

black people, especially,

what can you say about

how important it is for them to

have knowledge of firearms?

We are usually the most vulnerable.

Um Especially to crime and violence.

So we need to put things in place,

to be able to protect ourselves.

And this is just one of those things.

If a situation or a crisis was here,

we're gonna be in a in a world of hurt.

No one is is built for natural farming.

Everything is hand-to-mouth.

They are not prepared

in a disaster situation.

The savagery is going to be released

on the people,

and that's why I feel

it's really important

that you put yourself in a position

- to protect yourself.

- Mm-hm.

[g*nsh*t]

- [g*nsh*t]

- Okay.

[g*nsh*t]

- You ready to roll?

- Sure.

Okay, that's good.

- See the red dot there?

- Yeah.

There you go.

Calm.

[sighs] Yes.

- Breathe.

- Mm-hm.

- Ready?

- Mm-hm.

One time. Squeeze.

- [g*nsh*t]

- Excellent! Finger off the trigger. Relax.

[Bim laughs]

Whoa, breathe.

- [g*nsh*t]

- Ah!

One more time.

[g*nsh*t]

- Beautiful!

- [Crystal] And place it down.

- Beautiful.

- Okay.

[Bim laughs]

I feel like I'm in kindergarten,

except with g*ns!

"Well done!" [chuckles]

- So, how you feel?

- I feel

a little terrified. [laughs]

- Really?

- Yeah!

It's There's so much power.

- It's pretty cool.

- [sighs] I mean

[laughter]

BUZZFEED

[Bim] There are multiple ways

that the world can end.

But for survivalists of color,

there are complexities to consider.

This is a community that feels ignored

by their government,

and there are enough examples

to prove they're right.

I don't know if learning to skin a turkey,

or sh**ting g*ns is the answer,

but these men and women believe

it's time to ready up.

So they're building a grassroots movement

to ensure they survive

whatever comes their way.