Are the Outdoors Racist?

Conversations That Matter

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Conversations That Matter podcast. My name is John Harris. So this is a very quick little video here, but I had to share it because I saw something the other day that even

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I, right, I've seen a lot of woke nonsense, but this,

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I just, it's getting kookier and kookier and kookier.

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So here's the question. I'll show you what I saw. I'll play it for you, actually. The question is, is the outdoors inclusive?

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Yeah, is the outdoors inclusive to ethnic minorities, to, I don't know, women, to, you know, quote unquote sexual minorities?

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I mean, the outdoors, I'm talking about, you know, the sun and the trees and the grass and the wind.

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And, you know, when you go hiking, the things that you enjoy is, or go for a walk even in the park, you know, is that terrain, is that environment just, is it a racist environment that you're in?

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I mean, we know inside's racist, right? We already know that. That's systemic racism. I mean, it's in every institution, apparently.

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It's in the family and it's in churches and it's in the justice system and it's in business and it's in the government.

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It's everywhere, right? So we know inside is not good. People aren't good. What they build, you know, it's all racist.

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But is the outdoors also racist? It's like, well, what do you have left at that point?

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Like, what, it's just inescapable. So anyway, here's what I saw that I just thought was so crazy.

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This hiker is making the outdoors more inclusive for black people. It's from the World Economic Forum. She noticed that there were few people of color in the outdoors, so she created these walking groups, started her own community called

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Black Girls Hike in the UK. And she's trying to make the hobby more inclusive.

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Its members have scaled Snowden, the highest peak in Wales, and 150 people have attended the

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Black Girls Hiking Club. Lack of diversity in public parks isn't confined to the UK. In the

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US, around 90 % of visitors to public lands are white, despite making up 60 % of the population.

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Black people make up only 1 % of visitors, despite being around 13 % of the total population.

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While just 4 % to 7 % of visitors are Hispanic Latinos, despite being 18 .5 % of the US population.

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The lack of representation could be due to affordability and access. Some parks have entrance fees, are unreachable by public transit, or require expensive equipment.

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Historical trauma may also be a factor. A 2018 study found 66 % of US blacks surveyed with lynching, slavery, and police brutality.

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How do you figure that out? Until 1964, segregation laws were still in place at public recreation sites.

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Groups like Black Girls Hike helped to shape new narratives around black people outdoors. How else can diverse groups feel more welcome in public parks?

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So anyway, so this is what the World Economic Forum is putting out there.

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And before I comment on it, my wife showed me this the other day.

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This is, she was just, I don't know how she found this, but she was on Instagram, I think, and Black Folks Camp 2 came up as a recommendation.

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Our mission is to educate more black folks to enjoy the great outdoors without fear and inhibition.

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Without fear and inhibition. Okay. And then here's, you know,

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I thought, well, is this just a fringe thing? And then I Googled outdoors not inclusive for black people. And 52 ,400 ,000 results.

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Here's the first page of Google. Nature gap, why outdoor spaces lack diversity and inclusion.

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And it says it's largely due to historic discrimination. Breaking down the lack of diversity outdoors spaces by the

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National Health Foundation. Black indigenous people of color do not venture out into the affluent communities where park space is abundant.

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So now that's affluence, I guess. Indigenous people, I mean, you think, I don't know. At some point, didn't we all come from the outdoors?

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I mean, did we have more of an outdoor subsistence where we had to farm or we had to hunt to get food?

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I mean, that was pretty much everyone, right? There's no one that's, before the Industrial Revolution, I mean, everyone kind of, that's the life they lived.

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I mean, you'd think indigenous people especially would, that would be part of their heritage in some way, especially the places like in the

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United States where they lived and their hunting grounds. But apparently no. Apparently, you know, those are affluent communities where park space is abundant.

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You gotta laugh. I just, I mean, this is a, I mean, I'm into hiking. I'm into outdoor stuff. So to me, like most of the places

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I go are not, you don't have to pay a fee or if you do, if it's a national park,

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I mean, maybe that's the lesson. National and state parks, I can get behind this maybe. I mean,

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I don't think they're actually racist, but if it works to our advantage, national and state parks are racist. So they shouldn't charge any fees.

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They should just let the land be the land and then people can go in and do what they want. And I mean, the problem is you might have some people in some areas kind of abuse that and that's why there are parks.

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But hey, there's places like Scotland where you just have open land and, you know, no one's really managing it and people respect it.

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And I mean, hey, I'd love that. Maybe some places you can do that. But, you know, I think the fees are racist.

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It's a barrier to entry. Get rid of fees. Of course, I know, and they're thinking they probably just charge white people twice as much or something and call it a day.

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But anyway, yeah, you can't make this up. Five ways to make the outdoors more inclusive.

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African -Americans, Latino, women, members of the LGBTQ community often report feeling unwelcome or unsafe in outdoor spaces.

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It's those squirrels. It's those racist squirrels and racist deer. You know, they are keeping people, you know, white -tailed deer.

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Have you seen a white -tailed deer? I mean, that sounds like white supremacy to me. Five, buy

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POC initiatives, making the outdoors more inclusive from Women's Health Magazine.

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No number of outdoor equity activists. Outdoor equity activists. Is that a job? Can you get paid for that?

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Are working to make all things outside more inclusive and diverse, including these black women founded, and it's an organization

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I guess it's talking about. Americanhiking .org, racism in the outdoors. Our mission, empowering all, capital

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A -L -L, to enjoy, share, and preserve the hiking experience will never be fulfilled until systemic racism is erased in black, indigenous, et cetera.

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And there's a Sierra Club. A diversity and equity consultant discusses how we might undo stereotypes and truly diversify.

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This is insane. This is insane. And lest you think I'm making all that up, there you go.

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You can see all of it. I mean, just Google it yourself.

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Outdoors not inclusive or something, and just see what you come up with. So why am I highlighting this?

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I guess to just sort of point out the insanity of it, but to make the point that this is getting into every single, there is no escape.

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There's nowhere you can hide from this nonsense. Equity, inclusion, diversity, it's everywhere. There's nowhere to get away from it.

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You can't get away from it. It's just part of living in this world. It's not even

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American society. It's just apparently living in this world. And that's sad to me, because I'm someone who does hike, and I actually like the fact,

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I think people should enjoy the outdoors. I think it's good for you to enjoy the outdoors. I think it's good for you to do hiking and whatever, kayaking, hunting even, fishing, all that stuff.

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But to say, like, where's the racism? You know, you can't pick it off a tree. Like, it's in the outdoors because it's tainted by lynching or something.

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I mean, if someone, I mean, is the outdoors, I mean, the ocean, it's just tainted for me, because, you know, my people, they escaped

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Europe and religious persecution and had to travel, and so many of them died on the way over. I mean, it's just, because of historic, you know, it's a reminder somehow.

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Even though I didn't experience that, I just can't go near the ocean. I mean, that's insane. And I think people would rightfully say, if I thought that, that I'd be insane to look at things that happened hundreds of years ago and then say, well,

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I just can't, the ocean's the problem there, you know, you know, when we first came to the howling wilderness, it was so hard to eke out a life and be pioneers in this new world, quote unquote, you know.

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So we've just always hated log cabins, hated, you know, hunting and eating game and fresh berries.

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We just, they're racist against us or something. That'd be insane. But that's the same kind of logic that's being employed here.

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So now we're saying, I mean, it's not, I guess what I want to say is it's not a tree that can, trees aren't racist or sexist or homophobic, et cetera.

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Trees, trees in the sun, I mean, those things just are, they're material, they're, you know, there's energy, they're not, there's no moral like component to a tree that's deciding whether or not, you know, it's not like the trees are, you know, committing lynchings or something like that.

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I mean, there's evil people who use trees for nefarious purposes, but to then say, well,

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I just, you know, great, great, great, great, great grandfather or something, you know, lived at a time when people that look like him in certain parts of the country could have been killed in a certain kind of way means

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I can't go on a hike. I mean, that's what we've come to. That's what we've come to. And then, of course, the solution is segregation.

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The solution is we're going to create a blacks only hiking club or something. You can only join our club if you're black and you want to hike.

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Instead of, you know, creating it around a commonly held interest and enjoyment of the outdoors, now it's, you know, sports and hobbies and stuff are, they're just, they're being segregated.

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I don't know how else to say it. What word would you use? So anyway, I just thought that's insane and I thought

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I need to tell everyone about this because if you think that you can escape what's coming in your little nook or cranny where you live and the things you enjoy, think again.

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Some announcements real quick. A reminder to everyone to support the documentary, the

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American Monument documentary. Link is in the info section. And then also, I just want to announce, I have a special episode coming that's audio only.

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Come out probably tomorrow. It's just a speech I gave when we were in Naples, Florida. There was an

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Enemies Within the Church fundraiser thing and I gave a little speech and I'm gonna include that in tomorrow's audio only episode.

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You can go to the info section and find a link to the audio podcast there. Hope everyone enjoyed that.

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Maybe it lightened the mood a little bit for you. I know it's sad, but hopefully you can get a laugh out of that.