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pirate--
And NO it was not rude or meant to be. In this day and age stop being so uptight and make some friends with people from different cultures and then one won't need to come to a message board and ask "why" questions.
Actually, the Travel Channel did have a show hosted by an African American: Meshach Taylor. The same actor who was on Designing Women had his own travel show: Meshach Taylor's Hidden Caribbean.
There is nothing wrong with OP's question. I'd rather a person ask, than assume.
Folks, we only make up what––12 to 13% of the populace? Sorry, but we can't be everywhere all the time.
I've traveled a lot, and have had both negative and positive experiences with whites, here and abroad. It hasn't stopped me, but yes, when going to a predominately white destination, as an African-American woman, I do my research, and am cautious, because the absurdity of white people's assumptions can be quite amazing. I'm sure the same goes for all races; you cannot live with your head in the clouds.
I've been mistaken for an Aborigine in Sydney, while lying on the beach, a maid in Norway (I was shopping in a yarn store, no less), and while knitting on the Tube in London, a white-american couple stared at me; the woman turned to her husband and said in her mid-western accent '"unlike back home, here, knitting is popular with them.'" I smiled at her in return and said "except in New York, where I'm from." She looked like she was going to have a stroke. The Londoners burst out laughing. And all of this has been within the last 3 years.
Yes, many of us do spend our money on material things, go to a lot of black destinations, etc. So what? Why is this offensive? I do not feel I should have to defend my cultural or personal preferences. After all, isn't this what being an adult is about––the pleasure of choice?
There is nothing wrong with OP's question. I'd rather a person ask, than assume.
Folks, we only make up what––12 to 13% of the populace? Sorry, but we can't be everywhere all the time.
I've traveled a lot, and have had both negative and positive experiences with whites, here and abroad. It hasn't stopped me, but yes, when going to a predominately white destination, as an African-American woman, I do my research, and am cautious, because the absurdity of white people's assumptions can be quite amazing. I'm sure the same goes for all races; you cannot live with your head in the clouds.
I've been mistaken for an Aborigine in Sydney, while lying on the beach, a maid in Norway (I was shopping in a yarn store, no less), and while knitting on the Tube in London, a white-american couple stared at me; the woman turned to her husband and said in her mid-western accent '"unlike back home, here, knitting is popular with them.'" I smiled at her in return and said "except in New York, where I'm from." She looked like she was going to have a stroke. The Londoners burst out laughing. And all of this has been within the last 3 years.
Yes, many of us do spend our money on material things, go to a lot of black destinations, etc. So what? Why is this offensive? I do not feel I should have to defend my cultural or personal preferences. After all, isn't this what being an adult is about––the pleasure of choice?
Percentage of the population is one thing to consider. There is another factor. Many African-Americans do not have the money to go all over the world. Money can be a factor in where you travel.
Money's not that big of a deal . If people have an interest in going somewhere, they'll simply save enough to go. There are many Black people I know who have the finances to go anywhere in the world but do not have an interest. Full Stop.
Those who have an equal desire (as me) to travel but make less than I are amazed at how they can afford to visit places I've been to. It does not take a century to come up w/ the finance to go to London...or Jamaica...or Paris....or Barbados!
Us blacks are 12% of the population so all else equal you would already expect only 1/10 travelers to be black
Family travel-56% of black families are single parents. I'm sure this limits the number of black families you see travel
rural vs urban travel-I think blacks tend to spend more time in cities. Most blacks live in cities while most whites live in rural area so its no surprise that travel works the same way. When you see a tourist in a city you don't recognize them as a tourist, you just see a person in the city. As a black I am terrified being in the middle of nowhere. Its probably a little silly at this point but the idea of being in the middle of Kansas gives me chills.
travel by southerners- southerners travel a lot less than the rest of the country. blacks and whites. the thing is, most blacks are southerners so you don't notice the absence of white southern tourists. Many southerners are afraid of heights which takes away flight, bible bangers, which takes away sin (going places to gamble, party, etc). also southerners get cold quicker so you won't see them doing much travel to the north in the winter or skiing(also, blacks are more equipped warm weather anyway)
historic travel- most of us history is "white history" and history of times of black oppression. The only historic sites for black history are of sad times like where blacks were beaten, imprisoned or shot
I've only been up and down the east coast and Ontario which is more than almost all of my family (except the mixed family go figure). They are all well off financially but only travel the east coast and the Caribbean.
Us blacks are 12% of the population so all else equal you would already expect only 1/10 travelers to be black
Family travel-56% of black families are single parents. I'm sure this limits the number of black families you see travel
Quote:
rural vs urban travel-I think blacks tend to spend more time in cities. Most blacks live in cities while most whites live in rural area so its no surprise that travel works the same way. When you see a tourist in a city you don't recognize them as a tourist, you just see a person in the city. As a black I am terrified being in the middle of nowhere. Its probably a little silly at this point but the idea of being in the middle of Kansas gives me chills.
travel by southerners- southerners travel a lot less than the rest of the country. blacks and whites. the thing is, most blacks are southerners so you don't notice the absence of white southern tourists. Many southerners are afraid of heights which takes away flight, bible bangers, which takes away sin (going places to gamble, party, etc). also southerners get cold quicker so you won't see them doing much travel to the north in the winter or skiing(also, blacks are more equipped warm weather anyway)
historic travel- most of us history is "white history" and history of times of black oppression. The only historic sites for black history are of sad times like where blacks were beaten, imprisoned or shot
I've only been up and down the east coast and Ontario which is more than almost all of my family (except the mixed family go figure). They are all well off financially but only travel the east coast and the Caribbean.
I'm getting ready to go see it all in May though.
I could understand that. Part of it is history. Many of the hate crimes in which blacks were the victims were often committed in the rural areas. Statistically, most murders are intraracial rather than interracial, but that fear might still linger. I live in the sticks myself and whenever I walk anywhere I watch my back as if I was living in the inner city.
Travel by southerners could be a correlation.Strangely enough, alot of blacks traveled from the South to the North, where it gets cold. Later on many southern whites started to travel to the North for jobs. I haven't met many southerners who are afraid of heights. I think there are two factors to consider. It takes money to travel. The South over all is poorer than the rest of the nation, so there would be fewer southerners traveling(black and white). Another factor to consider is that many southerners I have met tend to have an attachment to the places they live, mainly due to family reasons, so many do not travel often unless it is to a place nearby.
It would be very strange if most southerners were afraid of heights because the busiest airport in the world is in Atlanta.
Everyone has their own reasons, so there is no one factor. During my upbringing, my family travels only consisted of driving to visit extended family (either my parents' home state of NC or an occasional trip to NY). Also, we took annual trips for our family reunion, again either NC or NY. We would spend the night at a certain relative's home and visit the others throughout this time, and drive back home. As a child, that was our sole purpose of travel as I knew it. We never went on a pleasure trip purely as tourists not knowing anyone at the destination, and hotels were not in the vocabulary. Not because we couldn't do any of this, we just didn't. However, I never thought much about doing them and never missed it. I did not realize I was in the minority on this until I hear other people discussing travel. People are mortified to know that not only have I gone without doing these things, but on top of that I never desired to experience it or felt something missing because of it. Thinking about it now I could attempt a guess as to why. Maybe my parents' experiences in the south could have played a part. My parents as well as my older brother & sister experienced incidents of being denied hotel/restaurant/gasoline/restroom accomodations, so I am barely a generation removed from the sting of Jim Crow. Maybe my parents stuck to a certain agenda and never felt comfortable to let their guards down for that reason. This might be the case for any posters who grew up in a similar situation.
Gotcha, rgraye1971. So for you, and your family its based on interest.
Here's an article written in '08 in regards to 'minority' travel:
"In tandem, the African-American market is seen to grow at the same pace, more or less. Today’s 40.7 million African-American population accounts for 13.4 percent of the total US population. It is the second fastest growing minority group, with a spending power of $798 billion annually, projected to grow to $1.1 Trillion by 2011. “Their travel expenditure is approximately $30 billion annually, accounted for by 75 million person trips yearly, with 44 percent of person trips for leisure, 10 percent spending money ongroup travel, each spending about $1000 per person on travel excluding transportation,” said Haymore.
"Simply put, if we can save enough money to go to places like the Caribbean, Las Vegas, etc., we can do the same for places like Europe and beyond. It may cost a little extra, but it is something that I know we are quite capable of doing. Bottom line, it is all in how we manage our money (which is a whole issue in of itself)."
Again, whoever wrote the above pretty much echoes what I said before!
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. 
. And all of this has been within the last 3 years. 