‘we Out Here’: Inside The New Black Travel Movement

http://www.meetup.com/Atlanta-International-Adventure-Travel-Club/


Great travel club for solo travelers
At least 6 to 8 trips a year
Various ages and races....

 

The Tribe is hurting right now. There was a meetup in Panama that started yesterday. The van carrying Tribe members was in an accident. There are many injuries and there are two fatalities that we know of. Please keep them all in your prayers.

 

This is horrible!

 

Omg What?!

 

I couldn't sleep

 

Yes it's heart breaking.

Right now we have the founder on her way to Panama (she is on the plane en route now), another member is headed out there, and we are raising money and donating hotel and airline miles in anticipation of assisting the family when they go and helping to offset cost of bringing the decease back home (I believe its at least $10k).

Details haven't been shared with the group yet so as to make sure family has personally been contacted.

 

http://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/two-american-tourists-bring-traffic-death-toll-to-15

 

This is truly horrific!! Words cannot even express my emotions - I feel so bad for them this sounds completely horrific to fall off a cliff - I am surprised there are only two fatalities and hope the rest pull through and recover

 

I am so sorry to hear that.

 

Sending my thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of the victims!

 

OMG!!!!!! I know one of the people who died. It was all over Facebook this morning and I was trying to get info as to what happened. All folks said was that she died last night in a car accident in Panama. I didn't know it was a group trip with the Tribe. OMG!

I think she bought tickets to go to Abu Dhabi later this year as well. I am beside myself.

 

yea I know a lot of people that knew Nneka as well.

 

Oh wow! I didn't know her personally (never met her), but there were some greeks I know on my FB timeline posting RIP statuses with her name. I'll be praying for her and the other victims' families. Such a tragedy!

 

DJ Big Dose was the other person who passed. This is truly sad.

 

Very sad. I heard about Nneka's passing this AM on Instagram. Didn't know her well but it seemed like she had a very strong spirit, and obviously accomplished a lot of her dreams. Rip to her and the other person who passed, and thoughts and prayers to those injured

 

Yes! Nneka! This day has been a nightmare. I can't believe it. I read the article in the link and it was even more shocking to see the picture of someone and to read that the van plunged off a cliff. Her father was out of town for work, her mother was out of the country, and I'm sure the family is trying to make sense of it all. It is so sad. I can't believe it.

 

yes. Christopher Nigel.

 

Nigel Christopher was truly a Dub step king!

http://m.roanoke.com/news/the-vibe-...e8c-deb4-585d-a965-b90fa30e46ef.html?mode=jqm

 

+1
There's a reason that travel to the Caribbean is so popular.
Snorkeling in Grand Cayman this past fall is one of my best memories ever.

Just because it's easily accessible to the U.S. doesn't make it not worth visiting.

 

The original "We out here" article has been updated by the editor. It now has a message on the top speaking about the accident and mentioning where monies can be donated.

 

This is sooooo amazing and soooo for me. I'm going to request to join.

 

So sad. Heard about the accident this morning.

 

We've raised $30k so far!

We are now pulling out resources so that the victims can come home and have pstd counsel ours and other therapy needs taken care of.

We are also trying to compile a list of attorneys in the States and Panama.

It's my understanding that issues with the brakes were a known problem however the company did not want to take the time to fix it due to loss income. It's also my understanding that accidents like this happen every 3 months or so because the industry is not regulated.

 

I have been crying off and on since it happened. This is the most that I've logged on to FB in forever. My heart breaks for everyone impacted.

 

It was tough logging on and seeing that. Nneka was so sweet and we had fun conversations. I didn't know Nigel but he looked out and after people. I am so sad for their families.

 

Bumping.

Article that I thought was related to the original post. thoughts?

http://www.ebony.com/life/are-passport-stamps-the-new-paper-bag-test-999#axzz3QbDKb8yy

Are Passport Stamps the New Paper Bag Test?
When it comes to world traveling, one globetrotter warns the Black community against the divisive snobbery of wanderlust
By Tracey Coleman

From Thailand to Iceland and every land in between, beautiful brown travelers are introducing Black America to the world, defying the shallow stereotypes of reality TV, and painting a more positive picture of our rich culture. Full of energy and optimism, these globetrotters are using the power of social media to prove that, contrary to popular belief, we are not a monolithic minority who only vacation on South Beach.

But one look at the Travel Noire Instagram account could have you all up in your feelings, wondering why you’re not on a camel in some desert you can’t pronounce. And the Nomadness Travel Tribe has created a community of voices so on fire for travel that mass media has finally started to pay attention, slowly adding a more colorful perspective to their travel stories.

In a culture where travel within our own borders was once a struggle, the Black travel movement has become a portrait of progress for previous generations. As a child, my mom would fry up a month’s worth of fried chicken for our road trips from South Carolina to New York City, and for years I didn’t understand why we couldn’t just stop along the way. I realized when I got older that on those road trips, stopping along the way in the Jim Crow south wasn’t an option, and packing all the food our family needed for 14 hours was a habit she’d learned from my grandmother.

So today, when we post that selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower or at the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, we make a statement far more powerful than the photo caption. Our collective journey has been a long one, and those photos are badges of pride that carry more weight that we realize.

But just when this thing was getting good, here come your cousins. You know the ones that start acting all brand new when they Columbus something you didn’t know about. Now that Calvin got a job and a few passport stamps, he and his crew suddenly have that classic Kanye “you ain’t up on this” attitude, taking to social media to question every dollar in your wallet not dedicated to a vacation.

While these special friends of ours are on the extreme end of the travel bragging spectrum, it’s pretty easy to start feeling yourself once you’re exposed to the awesomeness outside the USA. We’ve all been there. You come back from an amazing trip and every dollar you spent making memories abroad feels so much more valuable than the money you somehow blow at Target every month. It’s easy to start turning your nose up at folks who spend their money differently.

But the minute we use our passport stamps to define ourselves as better than the next crab in our own barrel, we’ve allowed the system to win once again. It’s similar to the colorism used to separate us by skin tone, and it’s perpetuated as we continue to divide ourselves using everything from the fraternity/sorority letters we choose in college to the texture of our natural hair. There’s a very long list of boxes we check to differentiate ourselves from each other. But in a time when we’re facing what feels like war against our community, the last thing we need is to be is divided.

Travel is absolutely exhilarating. When you arrive in a new country, there’s a rush of adrenaline the minute you step outside of the airport and into some new culture. Understandably, the first thing you want to do is share that feeling! But our photos and posts should be used to educate and inspire those watching us back home, not distance ourselves with boasting or shaming. Showing people the richness of an Africa that still isn’t taught about in schools, pooling resources to help people unable to finance a trip… there are so many positive ways we can use travel to bring our community closer together.

Let’s use the energy of this movement to bring those less traveled on a joyride around the globe, and become a united voice that forces the industry to include us in their marketing. We can continue to introduce others to our wanderlust while understanding that passions outside of travel are just as important.

There are enough things already dividing Black people. A passport stamp shouldn’t be one of them.

 

I think the article is extra. Every time Black folks start enjoying something that is thought outside of the norm for us, another Black person needs to be right around the corner saying essentially "Don't forget you still a n****." Upthread, I agree, some of the wanderlusters are so extra about it. But this whole slant of not forgetting where you came from, our struggle, and not to elevate yourself above one another is a tiresome refrain that wears on young Black folks just trying to live. There is a place for this sort of rhetoric, but travel noire and nomadness are not one of them.