Ep. 5 - Diversity in the Outdoors and National Parks with KangJae Jerry Lee

When discussing and writing about the outdoors, there’s always an elephant in the room: the sheer Whiteness of the outdoors space. The major outdoor brands have admittedly struggled to diversify, and there’s a particular White Male Broey-ness that has always made me feel uncomfortable with the whole industry. I wrote about that a few months ago as well.Things are changing, though, but it’s largely been led by people of color who have carved out their corner of the internet and the industry (I’ll include some links of folks to follow below). One area, though, where diversity in the outdoors has lagged, but is largely unacknowledged, is in the national parks. This, of course, is an extension of the general lack of diversity in outdoor spaces, but it’s important because these are federally run spaces that should be by and for all people. Yet they don’t represent the diversity of our nation.That’s why I wanted to bring on KangJae Jerry Lee to the podcast, as he is one of a little more than a dozen researchers specifically looking at diversity in the outdoors. In 2021, he and his colleagues published a study they conducted about who does and does not visit the National Park Service units. They found that Black, Hispanic, and lower-income folks were least likely to visit compared to White respondents and that there was an increased concern about safety, and preferred alternate vacation locations such as sporting events, theme parks, and socially and culturally oriented destinations. Also, among those demographics, there was less knowledge about the NPS units.Jerry and I talk all about this on the episode as well as his book, Violent and Verdant: Systemic Injustice in Public Parks in the U.S., which expands upon the research about diversity in the NPS units and generally about how White people have segregated and dominated outdoor and green spaces in both urban and rural areas. Check out Jerry’s book from the library and learn more about him here.And as promised, here are some of the people and BIPOC-focused organizations to check out to see how they’re advocating for diversifying the outdoors:* Melanin Basecamp* Afro Outdoors* Biking While Black (full disclosure, I work on the communications with BWB!)* Latino Outdoors* José González (not to be confused with the well-known musician :) ).* Teresa Baker* Nelson HollandPut any recommendations you have in the comments as wellNow enjoy the episode!Thanks for reading Charm of the Wilderness! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit charmofthewilderness.substack.com