We’re beginning to lose track of how many of these posts we’ve done on how National Parks are racist, camping is racist, the outdoors is racist. During President Obama’s administration, the Centennial Initiative (named for the 100-year anniversary of the National Park Service) noted that “Park Service law-enforcement vehicles look like those used by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and uniforms have law enforcement connotations, both of which present a significant impediment to engaging all Americans.”
In other words, park ranger uniforms looked kind of like law enforcement uniforms and were scaring away minorities.
Just last month, ABC News did a feature on the “existential crisis over race” facing National Parks, which remain “stubbornly white,” even though statistics showed that the makeup of visitors to National Parks almost perfectly mirrored the racial makeup of the country. Advocates for minorities enjoying the outdoors told ABC News they hoped George Floyd’s death in police custody brought attention “to systemic racism in the outdoors as well as other parts of society.”
The systemic racism in the outdoors.
Now the Los Angeles Times is on the case, and this time they’ve nailed down what it is that keeps minorities from camping: the high cost of entry. Camping equipment is so expensive, only whites can afford it apparently.
Camping is often called America’s favorite outdoor activity. But camping and national parks have a complicated past when it comes to racial equality and equal access for all.
One modern barrier to entry: the cost of camping gear.https://t.co/m49vAxD8sC
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 10, 2020
So what’s the story? Camper Mo Jackson set up a Venmo and a GoFundMe and started something called BIPOC Camping Kits with the aim of providing black, indigenous, and people of color with all they needed to go camping.
“Black and Indigenous people have historically had connections to nature and the land that have been stripped from us,” Jackson said.https://t.co/m49vAxD8sC
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 10, 2020
“My bigger picture is full solidarity; it’s going to take all of us coming together to topple these racist systems so we can find our sacred places again, and find peace again, together.”https://t.co/m49vAxD8sC
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 10, 2020
Topple the racist system of … buying a sleeping bag and a cooler?
I really don't get this need to make every activity a racist activity. Last week it was surfing. This week it's camping. What are you going to do? Force people to camps? Maybe send them on trains? https://t.co/E8S3jEufJD
— Mo Mo (@MollyRatty) August 11, 2020
This just in: The Onion and Babylon Bee are shutting down due to being out-competed by the corporate press.
— Neel ?????? (@DontFWithYaBoi1) August 11, 2020
If the barrier to entry is cost…make more money or shift your budget priorities. Race isn’t an issue—interest is.
I see the LA times is still the ‘fish wrap’ newspaper I remember when I was living there.
— La Reina??Creole???????????????? (@LaReinaCreole) August 11, 2020
You know what? They didn’t do their homework on the indigenous part. We can get into parks free with our tribal ID. We camped without having the camping gear as with with it. We never were stripped from the land as they make it sound – we have always remained apart of it
— ??O.G.Starwars?? (@OGStarwarsAB) August 11, 2020
Y'all ever heard of this place called Walmart?
— Regs (@r3gulations) August 11, 2020
— Coaxed (@PhiloFiles) August 11, 2020
You can go to Walmart and buy a sleeping bag for $10, a tent for around $30, and a large cooler for about $15. I've done this, and the products still hold up years later. Not everything has to be fancy brand names and bells and whistles.
— Diary of a Perpetual Bitch: Unlimited Complaints (@Candyrose_BTV) August 11, 2020
This article is hilarious. I’ve been camping my whole life and often times on super cheap gear. Totally falsehood that camping gear has to be expensive.
— J ?? (@Baloney113) August 11, 2020
The fact that this author & the LA Times thinks that camping equipment is expensive bc they’re able to afford top of the line gear & think that it’s normal is exactly what people mean when they talk about the “Hollywood elite.”
— nope (@Aye_Scotty) August 11, 2020
I used to get so confused when people refer to leaders on the Left as “elite” instead of CEOs & right-wing politicians, but at least they’re honest about their greed. Virtue signaling is just used as a cover for not making any real change.
— nope (@Aye_Scotty) August 11, 2020
I’m a person of color and can afford the gear. My son goes camping, and my daughter went camping as a Girl Scout. I prefer glamping, like Tom Haverford from Parks and Rec. Momma needs electricity, indoor plumbing, and a table and mirror for my makeup!?➡️ ? ✅?? pic.twitter.com/UjQ40u9UiI
— Scholarly Mama (@scholarlymama) August 11, 2020
As a long time camper since I was an infant and even now with my own children, camping and camping gear does not have to be expensive if you’re resourceful and smart about it. pic.twitter.com/DbCdsTb0jp
— Melody Cooper (@melodyMcooper) August 11, 2020
My Sleeping Bag is racist
— HELLO Darkness (@VaultedDarkness) August 10, 2020
I’m not understanding this. Camping was the only vacation we could afford for years. It’s not exactly a luxury for the rich. A cooler with ordinary groceries: loaf of bread, lunch meat, hot dogs & soda. We even just used blankets in our tent before we bought sleeping bags. ??♀️
— Steph (@Steph_JoJoJo) August 11, 2020
Camping is probably the least expensive summer activity. You can find a good tent for $100 and it'll last ten years if you take care of it.
— Nathan Bassinger (@no_neanderthals) August 10, 2020
Out camping now. Saw lots if black families camping. Campgrounds we've been in were very diverse. And saw more blacks with high end motorhomes too. If you want something you work hard to get it
— Michele (@mrisner) August 11, 2020
The last time I camped outside I slept on an outdoor lawn chair with an old blanket. You know how much that cost? $0
But leave it to the liberal elite to think everyone buys top of the line gear and racistly think minorities are too poor and dumb to figure anything else out. ?
— Mindy Robinson ?? (@iheartmindy) August 11, 2020
This article is actually arguing that poor people can’t camp. The irony of this article is that it’s coming out of LA where 10,000 people camp on the sidewalk every night.
The dissonance is amazing.
— Stop Making Sense (@StopMakingSnse) August 11, 2020
I feel like the @latimes is weirdly trying to force hobbies onto people that might not be interested in doing so.
Also again with the bigotry of low expectations too assuming because they're black they're too poor.
C'mon @latimes be better than this.
— Hydroxychloroquine Works. (@HeywoodJublomy) August 11, 2020
Camping, an activity that’s been around for 200k years, is often more of a necessity than a hobby, and is the cheapest form of vacation isn’t “diverse” enough. I have a $20 tent from Walmart. But let’s keep politicizing hobbies.
— Green Liberty (@GreenLiberty1) August 11, 2020
Isn't implying BIPOC can't camp because they're too poor is like weirdly racist? Camping isn't "stripped" from anyone. The price for entry is incredibly small. Most people are not spending $700 on a sleeping bag and a tent. This is weird. People camp if they *want* to camp.
— Stephen Ford (@StephenSeanFord) August 11, 2020
This just in:
“Los Angeles Times Thinks Non-Whites Are Poor.”
The cost of camping equipment kept me from camping too. I made the same minimum wage job that my black coworkers made. The difference is that I saved my money for camping equipment, they saved theirs for clothes.
— Red, White, & Blue Jay (@PoliticalAviary) August 11, 2020
This is one stupid article ??♀️
— RJ (@jeemalicious) August 12, 2020
Paging @TitaniaMcGrath … another item for your list.
— gmannicus (@gmannicus) August 11, 2020
Stop. Just stop.
— Rodger (with a D) (@Noz4news) August 11, 2020
It’s mid-August, so this might be the last “camping is racist” take we get until next summer.
Related:
The outdoors is systemically racist: ABC News reports national parks ‘face existential crisis over race,’ are stubbornly white https://t.co/BCKteolJv8
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 2, 2020
