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Do African Americans Travel??
Posted By Jay On March 2, 2010 @ 10:00 am In Featured Articles,Getting Personal,Travel Advice | 13 Comments
Well of course we do – it’s just that simple. But why ask the question? In my experience, the perception held by many travel agencies, advertisers, travel providers and most unfortunately – many African Americans – is that as a segment we don’t. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone ask “Why do you want to go there??” or been told “Black people don’t do that” or realized while on vacation “Hey, I’m in a group of 30 people – and not a single person looks like me” – I’d have at least 60 dollars! There’s even a site called “WTF – Black People do That???” – an obvious note of the writer having had similar experiences.
To me, there are two excellent reasons to travel outside of your familiar settings, even if it’s just to the neighboring state. The first of which is gaining a better understanding of the world and how it affects your life locally. Consider the following:
My point isn’t to advocate for awful child labor laws, Socialism or Fidel Castro; my point is that in order to make an informed decision (e.g. vote) on the issues (Trade Agreements, Health Care and Immigration Reforms respectively) that are currently affecting our country – it may be helpful to know a little about these subjects. One excellent way of acquiring this knowledge is to travel and formulate your own opinions. The reality is – if you rely on others to tell you what to think on these matters – you can’t blame anyone else for your ignorance (or the likelihood you will be manipulated into voting against your own interests).
The second reason and perhaps the more important reason is the world is a beautiful, ugly, exciting, relaxing, sensual, dangerous and wonderful place! By experiencing other environments, cultures and customs – you will likely enhance your own life in some way; whether that be the memories of visiting an amazing location, learning a new language, becoming a better conversationalist – the list is endless. The more you travel, the more you realize issues between nations are rarely the will of the “people”. You learn that all over the world, people’s value systems are essentially the same – even if their economic/social conditions differ. Finally, travel eliminates fear; fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to suffering (okay, I stole that from Yoda – but you get my point).
As a demographic, African Americans have lagged behind others in the US due to decades of restrictions on free travel. These restrictions have become ingrained into the minds of many Black folk – to the point that I know people who are “proud” they haven’t been anywhere beyond the city in which they were born. The fact of the matter is, African Americans ARE traveling in greater numbers and it is important that we understand and embrace this fact – for ourselves and for the benefits we can receive from businesses catering to our demographic.
There is already somewhat of a change on this front – American Airlines has launched Black Atlas – a travel blog specifically geared towards African Americans. American Airlines sponsors the site and the travel experiences are tailored to and provided by African American travelers.
In that vein, here are 5 excellent sites (in alphabetical order) I like that excel at describing their travel experiences using high-quality site designs and excellent content.
Go There – http://www.fly-brother.com
Go There – http://imblacknitravel.com
Go There – http://kiratianatravels.com
Go There – http://outdoorafro.com
Go There – http://www.twojetsetdivas.com
There are many more blogs and travel sites dedicated to sharing the Black Travel Experience; these are just a few I like and follow. Each is well written and provides ‘universal’ travel information – the authors just happen to be African American.
If you know of any other excellent blogs or travel sites – whether here in the US or abroad, let us know. Also, I’d like to hear your feedback on the sites I’ve profiled above.
Happy Travels!!
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