People of color have experienced segregation from a multitude of outdoor recreation agencies, including the Civilian Conservation Corps and National Park System. People of color were rarely considered to be major stakeholders in outdoor recreation or park-related activities. Throughout history, parks in the United States have been conceptualized, created and managed by white men who held racist beliefs.
The lack of diversity and inclusion in outdoor spaces can be traced back to the very beginning of parks, especially to the individuals who created the park system and for what reasons, according to Myron Floyd, dean of the College of Natural Resources and lead author of several studies exploring race and ethnicity in parks and outdoor recreation. Moreover, existing empirical studies do not support the idea.” A history rooted in discrimination “But this is an anglo-confirmative bias, meaning that it normalizes white Americans’ leisure behavior as a benchmark. “One idea is that if people of color have the same income levels, they will participate in outdoor recreation or visit parks as much as their white counterparts,” Lee said. However, people of color in the middle class who have disposable income and discretionary time may not even choose a nature-based vacation. If you are low income, you don’t necessarily have vacation time to take trips to state and national parks. People of color tend to have higher unemployment rates and lower income levels, leading to less disposable income to take trips for outdoor recreation. In my personal opinion, the most reasonable explanation is the last one, the historical racial discrimination: we are the products of our past.”īeginning with slavery, a long history of racial oppression, including job discrimination, redlining (refusal from the Federal Housing Administration to insure mortgages in and near Black neighborhoods) and lack of sufficient access to housing, has caused a disparity in income between persons of color and white people. “Socioeconomic status, cultural differences, racial discrimination and the history of institutional racism. “There are a couple of different theoretical explanations that have been provided by different researchers,” Lee said. The reasons behind this go beyond the fact that people of color are three times more likely than white people to live in places that have no immediate access to nature. Participation and attendance at state and national parks, as well as forest areas, tend to be disproportionate between white people and people of color.
Lee, an assistant professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, has authored numerous studies about racial discrimination in park participation, outdoor leisure and sports. The history of public park systems and current-day prejudices against people of color are two areas that reinforce each other and prevent higher participation from people of color, according to KangJae “Jerry” Lee. Research shows that people of color are far less likely to engage in nature-based outdoor recreation activities, with historic discrimination being a large underlying factor.Īt NC State’s College of Natural Resources, researchers firmly believe that the outdoors can become more inclusive once the narrative changes, from emphasizing achievements of people of color in outdoor recreation to having more diverse leadership in outdoor recreation agencies, organizations and advisory boards.
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