Where are all the black people?

Sep 29, 2009 | Filed under racial healing, racial identity, reading for reconciliation and tagged with National Park, Shelton Johnson.

Written by: Linda Leigh Hargrove

Photo Credit: San Francisco Chronicle

“Where are all the black people?”

That’s what National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson has been asking for many years. Ranger Johnson has worked for the National Park Service for more than 20 years, spent mostly at Yosemite. And in those years he’s seen so few blacks that he refers to black visitors as ‘a sighting.’

When I was a little girl, running barefoot through the state park a stone’s throw from the plantation from which my family descended, it didn’t matter that there were few blacks romping with us there, or at several other state and national parks we visited along the Coastal Plains and Outer Banks for North Carolina.

Visiting the park was fun. Period. A park had Cypress trees that were so old that nobody could remember who had planted them. It had water that nobody had chlorinated. Was that an alligator over there? Shoot yeah.

A park was nature. Not rides and cotton candy, or pictures with Shamo or Mickey*.

By the time I reached college, I realized that my family was one of those poor black Southern families who lived off the land because that’s all they knew. My parents had slowly brainwashed me into believing that it was okay for blacks to enjoy the ocean, to visit natural areas for fun, and to avoid amusement at an amusement park. They had spoiled me for life.

I think Shelton Johnson’s parents must have sold him the same bill of goods. After finding an old photo (circa 1899) of Buffalo soldiers patrolling Yosemite, Johnson developed a new appreciation for his role as a park ranger. The park ranger/musician/writer has devoted his life to bringing city kids to the wilds of Yosemite. Not bad for a shy boy from Detroit.

Where are all the black people? Forget Yosemite, or even Yellowstone. Try Six Flags and Walt Disney World. The truth is, unfortunately, Americans of color rarely visit any place that has any national or natural significance.

I’ve only been to a handful of sites in the national park system. After seeing parts of Ken Burns’s National Parks series on PBS, I’ve dusted off an old list I made years ago, before the kids came along.

Glacier National Park, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Volcano National Park, and Point Reyes National Seashore are on the list. I call it my American Bucket List.

Not visiting a national park is like never looking at your fingerprint. Pretty soon you don’t know who you are anymore.

Other links to visit:

http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/travel/civilrights/sitelist.htm

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/nps/johnson/

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/about/untold-stories/

*(been there. done that. came home broke and tired).

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