Posted on 05/25/2008 5:03:56 PM PDT by Rebelbase
GADSDEN, Ala. - The throngs filling campgrounds across America this weekend will include hardy outdoors types and those who prefer creature comforts, but they'll have at least one important thing in common: Nearly all of them are white.
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A small but committed group of campers is trying to change that by growing a generation of black campers, one person at a time.
The National African-American RVers Association is composed almost exclusively of black people who camp, although it includes a few whites and Hispanics. The group doesn't have much money to buy ads or solicit new members.
Instead, it always holds its major national gathering in July when schools are out so children and grandchildren can come along.
“We cater mostly to the family so that our young people will be able to grow up understanding the outside world and seeing the creation that God has created for us and how beautiful it is,” said the Rev. John Womack of Boston, the group's president.
Getting more blacks into the woods would mean breaking decades of stereotypes and overcoming a long-standing leeriness that members say many have about camping. Bad things happen to black people in the woods, the story goes, and they can't afford recreational vehicles.
At least that's the way Lawrence Joseph always heard it, and it all gets a chuckle from him as he shows off his 32-foot Winnebago Brave, one of about 160 campers packed into the River Country Campground for the Southern regional rally of the black campers’ association. Joseph bought his RV four years ago seeking the same things that draws whites to camp.
“I like the closeness, the friendship. You meet people from different venues, from different professions,” he said. “I have two kids, and it gets them out of the house from playing video games.”
Womack and his wife Bertha got hooked on camping years ago during a cross-country trip with their three children in 1983. He said outdoors recreation wasn't very practical or attractive to blacks for generations.
“In the early years we didn't have the resources to camp. We didn't have the time off to camp,” said Womack. “And for many people, life itself was camping. Our homes were like tents. We weren't anxious to run from one set of woods to the next.”
Lemuel Horton, Southern regional director for the black campers’ group, said that for years many blacks were simply afraid to camp.
“They felt like a black person out by yourself just wasn't personally safe,” said Horton, of Decatur, Ga. “But traveling all over the United States and Canada since the 1970s, I've had no problem.”
Joseph said the idea of camping creates an uneasiness among some blacks that's strong enough to prevent many from ever venturing into the outdoors, yet difficult to explain.
“It's just a feeling that it's not somewhere they ought to be,” said Joseph.
A survey commissioned by industry groups estimated that as many as 30 million Americans have camped, but only 300,000 of them are black, said Linda Profaizer, president of the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds.
Profaizer said tailgating at football games is popular among black RV owners including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who travels the country in a big motor coach with his wife when not deciding cases.
But most blacks have been slow to adopt camping as a hobby, she said.
“My thought is that they just have not been exposed to it,” she said.
States including Washington and California have launched programs to get minorities interested in outdoors recreation including camping, and so has the National Park Service.
Longtime park ranger Shelton Johnson, who is black, said he began telling the story of black buffalo soldiers at Yosemite National Park in California partly to lure more black visitors. Johnson has seen more minority visitors in recent years, but there's still not many.
“As far as I'm concerned it's a major issue,” said Johnson. “As the so-called browning of America goes on, if black people and other people of color aren't visiting campgrounds and parks, how is the National Park Service going to reach the public in the future?”
Founded by a small group of enthusiasts 16 years ago, the National African-American RVers Association has about 3,000 member families nationwide. Most are in the warm-weather South, and hundreds of rigs show up at regional gatherings called rallies.
Walk around a campground filled with black people and it's a lot like being in a campground filled with whites. Members arrive in everything from small, Katrina-style trailers to plush motor homes that sell for more than $1 million. Friends sit in lawn chairs between campers telling stories and laughing while kids fish and ride bicycles. Cooking is a daylong activity.
Gladys Curtis of Houston is active in both NAARVA and mostly white camping groups, and she has noticed at least one difference between the way the races camp.
“When we go to the (white) rallies we hear a lot of country and western,” said Curtis, president of a black camping group from Texas. “We've had a Motown review, big band, blues. Not a lot of country.”
$4/gallon gas is driving most RV's off the road. I saw very few of them on a 3 hour interstate drive on Friday.
MORE black campers? It seems like just this morning I read about black campers.
The problem is **far** more than just “black camping”.
Throughout my children's childhood we rarely saw blacks at the museums, historical sites, parks, and zoos that we ( literally) visited weekly. The yearly family memberships are very inexpensive at these museums and zoos, often less than taking the family to Mc Donalds.
So?...Where are these black parents and their children? These children are missing out on important educational experiences that will enrich their lives and make their classes in school more interesting and meaningful. ( As well as improve their SAT vocabulary scores.)
It is crying shame! ( I really mean it. )
This past week we were visiting my daughter in Houston. It seems things haven't changed any. We took my grandson ( 20 months) to the children's museum. Except for the day care kids and government school kids there were ***NO*** black parents and children! None! Yet,... the cost of a family membership for the year is very inexpensive.
Just got in from Houston. ( 3 day trip). We saw very few. Maybe 4 or 5 at most.
Also,...I was surprised at the number of gas stations that are completely out of business, and totally shut down. This includes one Flying J.
we tried out our new pop up camper Friday night. Nearly blown away here in Kansas. LOL
The author is absolutely right. I’ve been hiking and backpacking for close onto 40 years.
When more than a mile or so from the trailhead, I’ve probably met thousands of people.
I haven’t kept a count, but I bet the black ones were in the single digits.
For crying out loud!!
If a sissy-girl who needs showers everyday while I am camping with my Husand can do it, they can too without having a seperate club for blacks ONLY.
Get off your duffs and DO IT!! It’s fun!
In Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, Charleston, I’ve seen plenty of black families at museums, aquariums and zoos.
At last, something positive from the high gas prices!
I can hear Michelle Obama clucking from here. These people are the essence of “middle-classness” that she loathes.
But shouldnt Whitey be GIVING them RVs and free gas, and driving the RVs for them?
What is the matter with you, expecting them to earn the money and go out and buy and equip them themselves?
I was Scoutmaster of our small town troop (Texas) for 15 years, we had lots of fun and adventures, very active. We had our own Quartermaster’s supply of wall tents, backpack tents, six canoes and several backpacks (quality) for those that couldn’t afford one.
We don’t hardly have any blacks in this area but lots of Hispanic kids which we actively tried to recruit. Nope, we weren’t “cool” (I was told that many times). We only had something like 5 Hispanic Scouts over my 15 years. Other Scoutmasters in our District had similar experiences. Troop strength averaged 15 - 18 boys. We organized our own expeditions out of state and of course took advantage of Texas Scout camps too. Minorities? Just didn’t have much success on that end. It was very discouraging because we saw a great need in that respect.
I agree with FReeper Sherman Logan, on all our years on the trail, rarely saw black kids.
Things White People Like: Making you feel bad about not going outside.
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/9-making-you-feel-bad-about-not-going-outside/
30 million campers, 300,000 blacks camping, the estimates (about 10% of the camping population)appear to match the demographics of the country at large. So why is this an issue?
30 million campers, 300,000 blacks camping, the estimates (about 10% of the camping population)appear to match the demographics of the country at large. So why is this an issue?
My scout troop had blacks and Hispanics (Cubans, I believe), more than in proportion to the Catholic school it was affliated with.
(JUST KIDDING!!! I LOVE CAMPING!!!)
30 million campers, 300,000 blacks camping, the estimates (about 10% of the camping population)appear to match the demographics of the country at large. So why is this an issue?10% of 30,000,000 = 3,000,000 not 300,000. You may have missed a decimal. Happens to the best of us.
It seems to be a cultural thing. You’ll find middle and upper middle class blacks who are beginning to provide those extra educational opportunities for their children, but when they were younger, it’s likely their parents didn’t have the money to provide those extras, so it’s taken them a while to start seeing the value in it. It could also be that some of their kids don’t see the importance of those opportunities, because all they see of black culture in the media are the people who denigrate education as being a white thing. I hope it will change.
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