Traveling While Black
My feature in TONL about the American Road Trip
Hey Hey Hey!
As with each of my posts this year, I want to start by acknowledging the current state of affairs. As of November, I legitimately feel like we experienced an entire decades worth of upheaval in the last eight months alone (the first few don’t really count). Ya gurl is tired! And, even though I planned to use this blog as a platform to discuss travel plans and tips for the future, the most important advice that I provided this year was to stay your a$$ inside the house, because #COVID. How ironic. But, the reality of 2020 is that my advice for international travels would be irrelevant since most American citizens are banned from the world right now. In another ironic turn, a country that used to hold such a powerful international (passport) status is now reduced to a social pariah all because people can’t wear masks. Tragic.
Now, politically stranded in my own country, I opted for domestic trips instead. I pivoted to explore the National Parks and quintessential American tourist spots that I constantly heard about, but never wanted to visit because of the perceived racism that I would experience in certain states. Traveling safely takes on an entirely new meaning for Black people in a country that routinely and openly attacks our existence.
Despite my understandable hesitancy, it was an enlightening and fun experience that I wrote about in MY FIRST EDITORIAL FEATURE! (Yay) Earlier this summer, I partnered with TONL, a diverse stock photography company that aims to add color and perspective to an overly white industry with rich and vibrant pictures of people of color, and written narratives to match. I wrote a think piece about my experiences Traveling While Black in America, and how I maintain my authenticity, my Blackness, and my dignity, while traveling throughout the US. So, check it out, and let me know what you think! And, if the spirit moves you, purchase my set of pictures, captured by freelance photgrapher Darren Agboh, on TONL’s website!
Despite the messages that this country may send…I will continue to take my road trips because no one can take my sense of self and my dignity from me. I hope that other Black Travelers can feel the same way too.
