Why Blacks don't visit National Parks?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I have visited plenty of national parks, and do enjoy doing that. Camping is something, however, I have no interest in.</p>

<p>Many black people don’t have long vacations since many work jobs that don’t provide long vacations. Many black people also prefer to use their vacation time to visit family, including family who are in other parts of the country – the South, for instance. If one has a week-long vacation to visit many family members, that doesn’t leave much time to stop at national parks. Stopping in a national park also may mean longer traveling time, and a hotel stay instead of spending vacation while staying with relatives.</p>

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<p>I think the argument about not being comfortable in the South or rural area makes sense for a city slicker but nothing else makes sense to me. Lot’s of people work jobs and don’t have long vacations, and have to use vacation time to visit family - that’s not a racial thing. </p>

<p>My own observations have been that in the Eastern United States there tend to be more American visitors compared to the Western National Parks which have many more international visitors.</p>

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<p>NSM, when D and I moved to the county where we live 6 years ago, the cable installer who was black, said he would not go to jobs in the north part of our county after sundown, and this was 2003!!!
It is also the county that Oprah held her famous town hall meeting on racism back in the late 80’s. Some things have changed, but there are still parts up here…</p>

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<p>I agree you need to be exposed to different things and some people are more open to new experiences than others.
I see quite a few Asians camping in the parks- inc from the Indian subcontinent.
Just hang out at REI for a while, you see all kinds of people.</p>

<p>We have taken three kinds of vacations in the last 30 years.</p>

<p>Camping- not for more than 2 or 3 nights because we can’t get more time off from work and because it is cheap.
It can be a pain to drive for three or four hours or even longer if there is traffic, but it sure is nice to be in the trees.</p>

<p>During the time between Christmas and New Years Day is when my husbands company has time off. They work other major holidays through out the year so that they can have the time and so that they can’t call him in during that winter break, we have been going to the other side of our state for a few days to play in the snow and stay at a family style bed and breakfast ( except for last year)</p>

<p>My daughter attended college in a city less than 200 miles away, so as a family we visited at least once or twice a year while she was in college ( although that was often just my daughter and I), my younger daughter would stay with her sister in a dorm and I would stay in the hostel ( but go to the dorm to shower :wink: )</p>

<p>I grew up camping, that was all our family could afford, except for one year we drove down the west coast to Disneyland, staying with friends and relatives ( and camping) along the way.</p>

<p>I had never flown with my parents, ( except when I was three, I flew with my mother to Missouri to see relatives) and our family has never taken a flying vacation together. ( Although my daughter has sure racked up the miles- both of them actually)</p>

<p>At the end of this month- my husband and I are taking a well deserved 4 day trip to San Francisco. We are flying the first time ever together- plus it will be three days longer than our honeymoon :)</p>

<p>I love camping- I hate the organizing and packing but I love being outside. plus you don’t have to plan for a big trip.</p>

<p>( We don’t visit family- we don’t have the sort of family you would want to be around)</p>

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<p>We’ve done Yosemite a few times, and we LOVE it. But whenever I see the very old pictures, H and I can’t help thinking about what was going on when the pictures where taken. Why there are no Black people in the photos, and where they probably where. Sometimes it just feels like the mainstream historical stuff is not really “ours”. We ( like many,) are part Native American. Wonder what Native Americans think of National Parks?</p>

<p>"Many black people don’t have long vacations since many work jobs that don’t provide long vacations. "</p>

<p>That’s what H siad…“No time!”</p>

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<p>Just a thought on camping…Back in the mid 80’s, I was camping around the Aspen area, and I brought along a butane curling iron. I still hear about that to this day.</p>

<p>A girl wants to look good, even if in the woods!</p>

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<p>Strange choice of words there, Simba—my “excuse”?:rolleyes: And why do you think my being married “to a white” changes any concern I might feel about being accepted in rural campsites where there are few, if any, other minorities. It’s been my experience that some people are mightily offended by the racial makeup of my family. This is something I must bear in mind, no matter where I might travel in this Country. I have to ask myself what the reputation for racial tolerance is in the area to which I’m considering traveling. For instance, there are some parts of the country that it would be best for us to steer clear of if we’re thinking of buying a house. But then again, this would be true even if my H was black. </p>

<p>If I’m planning a vacation, I’m hoping for a good time, one in which I will meet friendly people with whom I might share a good time. If I find myself in a place where people indicate that they’re less than thrill with the fact that I’m black or my family is bi-racial, I’m not likely to want to go there.</p>

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<p>Shrinkrap, I grew up in SoCal, and our family used to go to Yosemite, and I can’t remember EVER seeing a black family. Never thought of it till now.</p>

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<p>From my POV I think it is possible that when families can afford NOT to go camping, it is the furthest thing from their minds to roam around the outdoors.
[African</a> American Environmentalist Association](<a href=“http://aaenvironment.blogspot.com/]African”>http://aaenvironment.blogspot.com/)
Why minorities may be slow to join the environmental movement ( but Hurray for the White House victory garden), could be that when growing your own food was no longer a required necessity, they tried to distance themselves from anything that reminded them of negative associations.
[Building</a> A More Inclusive Environmental Movement](<a href=“http://aeoe.org/resources/diversity/env_inclusivity.html]Building”>http://aeoe.org/resources/diversity/env_inclusivity.html)</p>

<p>I am happy to see though, that I see more minorities all the time, shopping at the local organic food co-op, participating in local environmental volunteer projects and I was thrilled that at the latest Green festival there was not only quite a few African Americans in attendance, but several panel discussions made up of African American community leaders.</p>

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<p>My sister has had the opportunity to visit Yosemite, and she made me absolutely jealous describing its beauty. She had a great time, but she didn’t camp there. She was a day tripper, like many other visitors, and went back to a comfy hotel room at the end of the day. </p>

<p>We went camping a number of times when the kids were little and I must say that at this point, I’m totally over it. You can keep your tents, and sleeping bags spread over hard and uneven ground. And you can certainly keep middle of the night forays into the dark with nothing more than a flashlight and a roll of toilet paper in search of the portapotty. My idea of roughing it is a large RV with water and electric hookups—LOL! </p>

<p>I wonder what percentage of white Americans visits National Parks?</p>

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<p>Many of my childhood vacations were camping trips. It was cheap. Those that weren’t camping trips were trips to see relatives. I don’t remember my dad ever being able to take more than a week off, but camping is best in 4 day spurts anyway. I don’t think that has anything to do with race, but may have a lot to do with being urban or not. When I was growing up New York was seen as a foreign, frightening place of riots and violence.</p>

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<p>“My sister has had the opportunity to visit Yosemite, and she made me absolutely jealous describing its beauty. She had a great time, but she didn’t camp there. She was a day tripper, like many other visitors, and went back to a comfy hotel room at the end of the day.”</p>

<p>Ahwahnee, for the win!</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/yosemite_lodging_ahwahnee.htm?gclid=CIeY5IbvqZwCFRwpawodXTtQjQ[/url]”>http://www.nationalparkreservations.com/yosemite_lodging_ahwahnee.htm?gclid=CIeY5IbvqZwCFRwpawodXTtQjQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>If my ancestors had loved being in the great outdoors, they’d have stayed in rural Maryland, Virginia and Jamaica instead of moving to big cities. The great outdoors is lovely as long as I can retire to a hotel room – preferably one in a big city – at day’s end.</p>

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<p>Thanks Shrinkwrap, I couldn’t think of the name, Awahnee! That’s where we stayed in the winter months when we went to Yosemite, and then we “roughed it” camping in the cabins in the summer months. 35 years later, I can still picture the beauty of it.</p>

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<p>I’m with you poetsheart - I’m so over sleeping on rocks in a puddle of water! Maybe we should start a new thread “why moms of college students don’t camp” :)</p>

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<p>"Strange choice of words there, Simba—my “excuse”?</p>

<p>I agree with you there…I meant to say what are your reasons, but by the time I realized that it was too late to edit the post. I was counting on you to catch it.</p>

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<p>Some moms of college students camp :slight_smile: The day after Fang Jr leaves for his pre-freshman camping trip, I’ll load up my bike with my camping gear and head down the Pacific Coast through Big Sur. Nothin’ better than curling up in my tent in the redwoods for a good night’s sleep. Then Mr. Fang and I will go to meet Fang Jr at his college orientation for what Fang Jr terms Get Rid of Parents Day. I’ll fly home, dry my tears and take another two-week bike trip, this time on a more northern section of the Pacific Coast.</p>

<p>In the SF Bay Area, I don’t see a lot of black folks in the parks, but I definitely see many, many immigrants-- often more immigrants than native-born whites. Then again, there are a lot of immigrants in our area.</p>

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<p>I LOVE “camping” as long as the accommodations have at least 4 walls, a roof & a floor. Am NOT into canvas that makes us all have allergy flares but otherwise we really enjoy the “great outdoors” and have done a lot of cabin camping with our kids. We went to one different national park every night one year and the kids & hubby have taken a more active role in our vacation planning since (it was really too tiring all the way around). Hubby and I have done our share of tent camping, preferably in brand new tents (no smell, mold or mildew). We have had a great time at many national parks over the years and our kids love the out-of-doors (tho prefer to be comfortable when possible). </p>

<p>Both can handle more rustic lodging & have no idea what S sleeps in when he goes on his rock climbing jaunts with his U buddies (I suspect it’s pretty rustic). Both kids were scouts, so they can handle things as long as they don’t have to deal with snakes, bears and other scary critters.</p>

<p>We all prefer leisurely trips to national parks–a week at a time or at least a long weekend is nice. If you rush around too much, you never “get in the zone” and get over the inconveniences of rustication. None of my sibs are fond of camping, just our family plus one of my nieces who was also a scout. The rest much prefer nicer lodgings.</p>

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<p>I headed out to a national park (to camp there) with my family, and when we got there the people looked so creepy and scary that I made everyone get back in the car and drive home. About ten hours round trip! There was NO WAY I was staying there (and this was supposedly a “really nice one”). Not an issue of race in this instance, but in general campgrounds can feel like the sort of places where people with mullets, bad tempers, and guns would hang out (and sometimes serial killers). I just looked around and was like. “EEK!”. Throw in the issue of race history, and I could totally see someone not even making the initial 5 hour drive. The land may have been beautiful, but the people there were…not.</p>

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<p>Theory: They don’t like camping.</p>

<p>Here in California it’s pretty clear that Whites are the vast majority when going to parks and outdoor activities in general. Mountain biking/hiking/rock climbing/etc. Obviously, this is in spite of whites being less than 50% of the Californian population.</p>