[Cdt-l] CDT Integration

[Junaid Dawud]

Why is it that the (mostly white male) people who do go hiking go? What enables that group to go? Delve into these questions a bit more and I think we may start to see the reasons that the 'minorities' don't go. 

I lived in Hawaii for almost 10 years and seldom saw locals or Asians or Blacks or X or X or... Out on the trails. Mostly white guys. There were some but not many. My 'minority' friends did come with me on some day hikes, and most loved it even if there was some initial discomfort. They simply hadn't been invited to go before. 

White privilege led to white leisure time led to white people hike. I was born and raised Muslim by my white convert parents and thus never really felt like a 'normal white American'. Top that off by being a racial minority for ten years in Hawaii, and I can say for certain that the mainland American culture still has rampant racism going on. Most who harbor racist thoughts and do racist actions aren't even aware of it. They aren't consciously or overtly racist, many have been de facto racist by nature of the inculturation. Trust me, I see it all the time. In fact the way some of the thoughts expressed in this thread have been framed displayed this to me. (I'm not calling anyone or any of you racist, I've seen nothing to indicate overt or conscious racism by anyone on the list). 

If you have 'minority' friends, invite them for a hike. And also ask yourself, "when was the last time I did so?" And if you haven't invited them lately or ever, ask yourself why. 

Just my perspective.

-----Junaid aka Speshul 41

Btw, once we had 3.5 Asians at one camp on the PCT near Etna. That might be a record ;)