My last two vacations were in New Zealand and China. I think I actually saw more black people in China. Two.
I was just about to say this. Around here, many head down south for annual family reunions. During the summer, I’ll see a lot of black people wearing t-shirts from the reunion.
Heritage travel is very popular among some African-Americans; Atlanta, Washington DC, and Ghana are supposedly popular destinations.
Too late to edit. Just wanted to add that the crowd in Las Vegas is very diverse. The Strip never struck me as being really white.
What the OP doesn’t seem to realize is that there are large segments of the white American population that don’t take the kind of vacations that he is thinking of either. I grew up in a rural community of working-class whites (and in the case of my family, struggling working-class). My family didn’t do vacations which consisted of going to the beach, going to the mountains, going camping, going on cruise ships, visiting foreign countries where you travel aimlessly around the country, staying at resorts in warm locations, etc., and I don’t think many other people in the community did such things either.
Some did visit Disney World. Some did visit national parks. Most vacations consisted of visiting family who lived anywhere from a few hundred miles away to clear across the country, and they might show you the sights. My father went to a convention of his Marine division each year, so we often did vacations in some big cities. Many people did eventually visit a foreign country, but that was what you did after you retired and your children had left home. You might then go as a couple and go around Europe with a tour group.
Well I’m an African American and me and my family & friends travel many places. I have visited Disney world, New York, Florida Sacramento and I reside in Vegas. I’m planning to take a cruise soon and also a trip to Jamaica. I want to travel to other foreign countries but I’m not sure where it is safe for us (African Americas) to go. So I want to end with a of my own.
Where are the safest, most welcoming or just accepting countries for blacks to visit ?
Barbados? It’s got the beauty, African-heritage and cultural richness of Jamaica, without the muggings.
Purely anecdotal, but here’s what I gain from visiting with my co-workers (who are all in the same income bracket). We’re encouraged to show pics of our trips in our group meetings
Blacks vacation almost exclusively with family. In fact from looking at the pics, the reunion is such a big deal they even have t-shirts printed up for it.
People from the Far and Middle East usually take one long trip back home (Viet Nam, India, Turkey, etc).
People from Mexico tend to either the big resorts (Disney), or tropical (Bahamas, Fl Keys)
Whites are the only ones who buy RVs and boats and use them for vacations. To this day, lakes and campgrounds are almost pure white when we visit.
It seems to me that whites are the only ones who do mini-vacations (weekend at the state park, short 3-day to the coast, etc.)
Limited sample size I know, but I’ve kinda been curious about the differences.
I’ve never vacationed at a fantasy hockey camp. Maybe they’re all there.
Not just Caribbean island countries, but Latin American countries around the Caribbean periphery (and also Brazil) have large black and mixed-race populations. Colombia (beautiful, diverse, and getting safer every day for everyone), Panama (ditto), Costa Rica (great choice for you!)…they’re used to their own wide range of skin colors, so you’re unlikely to find obvious racism in these places.
These countries do have their own histories of prejudice and internal racial issues, but that shouldn’t affect you.
If you’re looking for more northerly climes, I think the Netherlands could be a good choice, or France. These and certain other parts of Europe have a history of appreciation of African Americans, albeit sometimes with a bit of a patronizing or essentializing edge.
:rolleyes:
Based upon the current demographics of the US, we should also expect Detroit to be about 12% black, but it is in fact 83% black. Is that also unreasonable?
Clearly it is possible to find localized variations in racial/ethnic composition of a subpopulation. Other factors such as affluence and culture/tradition are likely to be involved. I think the OP was likely seeing far less than 12% black folks on cruise ships.
pullin writes:
> Blacks vacation almost exclusively with family.
As I said before, something like this is true of working-class whites too. They don’t tend to go to the beach or the lake or the mountains or a cruise or a long trip in an RV for a couple of weeks. Instead, they visit family. The places where Americans typically vacation tend to be more dictated by one’s income and race than one might think.
pullin writes:
> In fact from looking at the pics, the reunion is such a big deal they even have t-
> shirts printed up for it.
I recall seeing such a thing when I was in Hawaii. A group of middle-class blacks, mostly from California, were on big reunion (with T-shirts) in Hawaii, although maybe only one of them actually lived in Hawaii. It was like they were saying that a vacation should consist of visiting family, but they were middle class now and had one relative in Hawaii, so their group vacation consisted of going there together.
I’m sure you didn’t mean it in any such way, but the use of “pure” in a statement about a place having white people only present kinda gives off a bad vibe.
A lot of upper class black folks “summer” in the Bluff Oaks section of Martha’s Vinyard. The Obama’s have stayed there at leas once, though they weren’t entirely welcome, because Michelle’s background was too working class for some of the long time residents. I’m sure they’ll get over it.
Black college kids have made Daytona Beach a prime spring break destination.
Atlanta and DC are also favored places for young black folks to hype it up. There’s always something going on in NYC, and some of those many black folks you see on the street are tourists.
Six Flags, King’s Dominion, and other local theme parks are favored by families. Traveling to see relatives is probably still the number one choice.
I’m not European, but based on my experience traveling in Europe, an American black person would stand out more as “American” than “black”, for what that’s worth.
Zombieland?
of my African-American friends and work counterparts I’d just say where they go for vacation has always been where anyone else in their socio-economic class has gone. Some just do family reunions, picnics, days in the park or beach. Some go to theme parks, some take cruises, and some even travel abroad.
I live in the Caribbean, so trips to the islands may be underrepresented except for visits to a home country. Otherwise, thinking back to the most recent vacations of several of my black colleagues:
One lady has visited Orlando twice, a shopping trip to Tampa, and two weeks in Gatlinburg, TN. She did ask me in all seriousness if I thought it was a bad idea for a black person to visit Tennessee. I was a bit shocked she thought she would receive anything but a welcome. Kinda sad, but I have never thought of such things.
Another lady always goes back to visit family in Jamaica. She has elderly parents so that may be a bit of a pressure.
One lady flew home to Nigeria. She would try to go every other year for one major trip but they stopped letting her carry a year’s vacation forward like that.
One guy goes on Caribbean cruises to see other islands. He went skiing in the Rockies for one trip. And he is planning an Alaskan cruise next.
One guy goes home to St Lucia. He is newly married and has a new baby so all the family wants to visit the new one.
And I live vicariously through one other lady who travels solo. Her last trip was flying into Lyon and making stops in Paris and Amsterdam before flying home from Berlin. A previous trip was a tour of southeast Asia with three weeks to see parts of Thailand , Cambodia and Vietnam. The other week she was asking me questions about touring Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil so it looks like South America is up next.
Black people come to North Myrtle Beach. 12% of the beach population or whatever was posted above seems accurate enough.
I’ve seen black people on cruises to Bermuda, but few enough to still go, “hey, a black person!”
I’m white, never been on a cruise, and the few friends I know who do cruises are pretty lame. Not that there’s anything wrong with going on cruises- just that if I were one who saw vacation=cruise, I wouldn’t expect to see every type of person on my preferred niche excursion.
Why isn’t anyone enumerating his/her favorite vacation spots (in black letters of course)?