Black men don’t travel and there is a reason.
Hello there and welcome to my first blog and thought it was best to talk about why black men don’t travel much. I have been traveling since I was a kid either with my parents, alone or as a group. Growing up in Nigeria, I was really exposed to traveling and as I got older, I realised that it was a privilege to be able to travel the world as a solo black man.
Ever since I moved to Mexico back in 2019 and focused more on solo male travel; I noticed the lack of men particularly those that looked like me traveling. It was always weird when I went to a hostel, hotel, Airbnb, walking tour and yet again felt like I was the lone black man having these experiences. I have been on this quest to know why a lot of US (black men) don’t travel much and how I can help impact the next generation of young black men travelers.
Traveling like I mentioned above is a privilege and from generic research these are some of the reasons why I think black men don’t travel in general (of course there are different reasons depending on the person).
- We don’t travel because it is not a priority on our list. We have never been taught as a black community that this is something we should and can do.
- Black men think that travel is only a “white people” thing. This mindset is more common in the United States and needs to change because everyone should get a chance to explore the world.
- The fear of being mistreated is sadly one of the main reasons why black men do not travel. This point is valid because the narrative of the black man is not good on media, and thus causes internal battles with wanting to just stay at peace.
- Black men don’t see a reason to travel at all. The irony of it is that I have learnt so much from traveling and experiencing different things in life, than I have learnt from my over 18+ years of formal education.
Conclusion
There has been a surge in the travel industry for black people, but of course you see way more women traveling than the men. This does not mean that black men do not travel at all because there are some black men out there traveling without a doubt, but the truth is that we are being underrepresented tremendously. Traveling does not have to be to a country in Africa or anywhere abroad, but can just be to the neighbouring state. The goal is to see more black men travel and be more comfortable with the idea of exploring the world. The world in turn, needs to then be comfortable with seeing US (black men) traveling and changing the narrative that we are dangerous human beings. If you would love to go on a group trip geared for black men, click here to see out trips. Drop your thought below and lets chat.