Watch: ABC News Claims If You Visit A National Park You Are Engaging In ‘Segregation’
No this is not a joke, according to ABC News if you go to a national park you most likely are racist.
“The outdoors and public lands suffer from the same systemic racism that the rest of our society does,” said Joel Pannell, associate director of the Sierra Club.
ABC News reported that of the 419 national parks they are “overwhelmingly white.” They claim only 23% of visitors to the parks are “people of color.”
From ABC News:
New government data, shared first with ABC News, shows the country’s premier outdoor spaces — the 419 national parks — remain overwhelmingly white. Just 23% of visitors to the parks were people of color, the National Park Service found in its most recent 10-year survey; 77% were white. Minorities make up 42% of the U.S. population.
Lauren Gay, from Tampa, Florida, blogs about her experiences as a woman of color.
“We need better ways to cope with stress, to cope with some level of trauma. We all have some level, honestly, of PTSD from a lot of the things we’ve lived through as people of color — and nature is a way to do that,” Gay said.
Ambreen Tariq, Carter of the “Brown People Camping” said that our “green spaces” are “remaining white.”
“The future of our country is more and more diverse, … we’re going to have more people of color in this country than white people, but our parks, our green spaces, our conservation spaces, those demographics are remaining white. What does that mean for the future of our land, for environmentalism? We need everyone to experience and then love the land so that they will stay and fight,” Tariq said.
“So you think the parks are at risk? Absolutely. The parks are at risk, just like every other natural resource in this country. Land, water, air. These are resources to be preserved. And it not just takes money. It takes people fighting for it,” she continued.
ABC NEWS continues:
Advocates say they hope the moment since George Floyd’s death in police custody brings attention to systemic racism in the outdoors as well as other parts of society and translates into a long-term change in attitudes and behavior.
“When I’m walking to work with park rangers or with other campers and hikers who treat me in some sort of way that make me feel unwelcome, that make me feel unsafe, that is startling,” Tariq said. “And that goes unchecked because there’s, there’s just no channel for us to be able to challenge that in such remote places.”
President Donald Trump appointed the first Latino to lead the National Park Service, Director David Vela.
Vela said he will not allow any statues or memorials to be torn down and that National Parks are vital to the history of America.
As millions of Americans escape home quarantine to the great outdoors this summer, they’ll venture into parks, campgrounds and forest lands that remain stubborn bastions of self-segregation.@devindwyer reports. https://t.co/Xzmouf4bwM pic.twitter.com/e8PckJcVqn
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) July 1, 2020
