I want to charge the North American Hunting Club as being racist also because you don’t ever see black people hunting on television. It’s because they were shot at a lot in the past so now they hate guns and killing animals. Will any African American volunteer to go into inner city classrooms and elaborate upon the virtues of game hunting? Anyone?

JohN HENRY on August 17, 2009 at 11:04 am

I wonder why you never see african americans in sun tan lotion commercials?

shmujew on August 17, 2009 at 11:20 am

Debbie, I have to agree with you on this…I don’t understand why this is even an issue. It’s not something that I’m aware we Black folks even sit around and talk about. Of course I’d like to visit some of our fine National Parks one day, but they are not high on my list of vacation spots…and I never contemplated there was any racial reason behind it. I do agree that being out in nature can do wonders for inner-city kids (and adults!) who grow up with nothing but concrete, but that criterion can fit any inner city child regardless of race. And “nature trip” can be attained much less expensively by visiting a closer location than that of a National Park.

Hats off to the brother who is a Park Ranger, but he and ABC News are kind of reaching on this one…especially with that “soil and dirt as reminders of slavery” theory. I have to give it to them…that one was kind of out there! Reminds me of the wild theories my college buddies and I used to come up with at 2:00am after we had a few beers and were trying to sound “deep”!

JibberJabber on August 17, 2009 at 11:30 am

Hmmm…maybe, just maybe could it have something to do with the fact that Black people from say Alabama aren’t going to Yosemite cause they CAN’T AFFORD the long trip???

SumDum Phool on August 17, 2009 at 11:36 am

I wonder why you see very few blacks portrayed as rednecks in movies or other media. It is almost nonexistent in the modern entertainment industry. How many blacks have been depicted as rednecks like the white hillbillies in Deliverance? I guess its gotta be racism.

Jarhead on August 17, 2009 at 11:42 am

Such foolery.

sjh on August 17, 2009 at 11:56 am

I’m sure the problem is more about location than racism. Most Blacks live in urban areas which tend to be far removed from national parks like Yosemite. I’m sure most Whites in urban areas have rarely visited a national park.

Norman Blizter on August 17, 2009 at 12:04 pm

it seems whenever blacks are disinclined to do something, it’s passed of as a legacy of slavery or jim crow laws. Even though slavery was abolished almost 200 years ago it’s still an excuse. White people tend to feel guilt although most never had ancestors who owned slaves.

Chuck on August 17, 2009 at 12:40 pm

LMAO.

Joe on August 17, 2009 at 12:49 pm

I wonder how many Palestinian or Iranian park rangers are patrolling Yosemite? It’s gotta be racism. Call out the ACLU!!

Jarhead on August 17, 2009 at 1:02 pm

I have visited all the Civil War battlegrounds. Never seen any black visitors.

smudge on August 17, 2009 at 1:46 pm

My wife just viewed the video and she informed me that she can no longer cook any more food using the oven. She said “it reminds her of the ovens used during world war II”.

charles on August 17, 2009 at 2:23 pm

And yet, I’ve seen suburban blacks working on their lawns and tending beautiful gardens in their yards. How would these people fit into Mr. Ranger’s theory?

Harry on August 17, 2009 at 2:34 pm

I’m having a tough time being on Earth…..because everyone who ever did me wrong was also on Earth.

I also find it hard to look at the sky…….cuz’ bad people look at the sky, too!

………this could go on and on………but you get my drift…….

guitarguy on August 17, 2009 at 2:54 pm

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHaaaaaa
The funniest thing I’ve seen all day! Those darn racist national parks. Just because 70-90% of the blacks living today are NOT from slave decedents, and working in dirt has carried over for 200 years makes them not want to visit-Hilarious!
Since when does visiting a national park mean you are subjugated to toil in the dirt while you are there?

Half of my ancestors migrated here from oppressive Russia Via Germany when they were being rounded up and killed after they did all the farming there. Hmmm, I wonder why they came to North Dakota to farm here. I guess they liked the memories of being oppressed then.

wolf2012 on August 17, 2009 at 3:55 pm

Ranger Shelton Johnson should be subjected to disciplinary action by his supervisors and receive corrective counselling.

By his own admission, he was born in Detroit, Michigan, which means he is an American, and NOT an “African-American”.

He, along with the folks at ABC NEWS, should cease misusing that terminology.

It may be offensive to folks who were actually born in Africa and became American citizens, including the numerous severely persecuted white refugees forced to flee from Kenya, Rhodesia, and South Africa.

Is that part of the agenda to deliberately provoke and further aggravate racial animosity in American society?

John Robert Mallernee on August 17, 2009 at 3:57 pm

Whoooweee !! People from all walks of life may have strong opinions about Debbie Schlussel, but her Blog is never Boring !! I, too, feel as though I am LMAO !! My husband and son got lost in the Rocky Mountain National Forest in 90 degree weather on vacation. For 7 long hours they were missing in action. Apparently, near the half way pointe of the sixth hour, a Ranger appeared, like an Angel of Mercy. He had a portable water purifier, and provided potable water to my long lost loved ones from a babbling brook. Where was I? Waiting and reading in the air-conditioned car, for the avid adventerous Hikers, to return from what I thought would be a Three Hour Tour. A Three Hour Tour. To me, and it is prolly just me, you really have to have a deep and abiding love of Nature to risk venturing out into the wild, wild, wilderness. Thanks, Debbie for the laugh of the day…

RoadsScholar on August 17, 2009 at 4:37 pm

How in the world does a park remind blacks of slavery when none are alive today except in the Islamic world of Middle East, Iraq and Africa. American Blacks are not enslaved as the 13th amendment stopped slavery thank to the Republicand. The Democratic Party wanted to keep slavery until 1854 when the Republican Party was started.

Picking cotton hurts the fingers, I know as a former cotton picker (LOL) As kids we picked cotton and broke the man’s cotton gin. It was fun as we all awaited school to open. I picked 80 lbs including the sand and bricks put in the cotton to make it weigh 80 lbs. White kids picked cotton with us and we had fun. Didnt make much but all of the kids were there and we all had fun. If we HAD to do it it would not be nice, but as kids we didnt have to but it was fun.

Blacks ought to stop the petty stuff as in 2009 times change and a thanks should be given to many whites who stopped the evil slavery ways. Arab and African Muslims sold other Africans to Arabs and europeans with the quran as guide book as to how to misuse people. Slaves were property and slavers had the right from Allah to sex them any way they wanted mqale and female Sura 4:15,16. I like parks and they remind me of PARKS.

btilly on August 17, 2009 at 6:05 pm

May I put these people in a MRI machine?

mindy abraham on August 17, 2009 at 6:50 pm

This just in from Yellowstone National Park !! Opra has been spotted by an old geyser by an old geezer !! Pass it on !!

RoadsScholar on August 17, 2009 at 7:47 pm

I suppose there are statistics showing that whites have a higher attendence rate at national parks. Following the ranger’s reasoning it is axiomatic that the whites are racist for wanting to be around all that dirt and soil so they can conjure up images of the pre-13th amendment past.

personal trainer new orleans on August 17, 2009 at 10:29 pm

I have one comment—pulleeeeze! Everyday is a new chance for some occasion to blame something more on whitey.

[By his own admission, he was born in Detroit, Michigan, which means he is an American, and NOT an “African-American”.] JRM

Great comment and right on, bro.

“Can we all just get along.” Rodney King–great American intellectual and pundit.

BB on August 17, 2009 at 11:19 pm

What’s with these statements?

1. “Yosemite’s only Black ranger wears two earrings, if ya know what I mean.”
2. “Oh, and by the way, Snoop Dogg at the national parks–bad idea.”

Why would Snoop Dogg’s presence at national parks be a “bad idea”?

And for the misinformation presented here:

“…85 percent to 90 percent of today’s African-Americans are descendants of enslaved Africans brought to America between 140 and 385 years ago…”

http://www.oread.ku.edu/Oread05/Feb18/slavery.html

Nquest on August 18, 2009 at 1:16 am

Football (and battle) fields can get pretty muddy and that doesn’t seem to bother them.

Miranda Rose Smith on August 18, 2009 at 1:52 am

Hello Debbie and All

Why did ABC NEWS use an Asian-American reporter instead of an African-American reporter. Is ABC NEWS racist for not sending an African-American reporter to the park? Maybe the US Olympic running track and field team is racist because not many white runners make the Olympic team.

If the NBA is supposed to be a global game, then why are there 2 billion Chinese in the world yet only 2 Chinese in the NBA? I smell racism.

Any race can go on and on about being not represented equally in any activity.

I: No Black ABC reporter wanted to go b/c the soil at Yosemite would remind them of slavery. (Just kidding.) DS

INFINITE on August 18, 2009 at 12:11 pm

Blacks are not really into camping either. All the years I went camping very few – if any blacks.

sandy on August 18, 2009 at 5:15 pm

I once heard a phrase ” your ignorance is overshadowed by your stupidity”
fits like a white glove….

t r axe on August 21, 2009 at 12:57 am

Here’s an idea, for some actual JOURNALISM– those folks that they showed on the street in Detroit? How’s about you go up to them, ABC, and ASK them, have they visited any national parks, and why or why not? Why only take ONE black dude’s take on it? There are a couple national parks right there in Michigan, Isle Royale, Sleeping Bear Dunes… Detroit folks don’t have to drive all the way to Yellowstone or Yosemite to get an NPS wilderness experience.

beth314 on August 21, 2009 at 12:15 pm

I really wanted to take up vegetable gardening as a hobby, but since my neighbor is black, I’ll have to drop it. I don’t want to be insensitive. Maybe I’ll wait until he moves.

bubbinggardner on August 21, 2009 at 3:40 pm

blacks don’t visit national parks because they would rather stay in the hood, tippin’ the 40, shooting their gat, listening to filthy rap music, talking on cell phones and following ridiculous fashions for their hair, clothing and nails. the reason why blacks don’t succeed in America is that do not set their aspirations very high and expect others to take care ofthem.

I am tired of the race card, all this politically correct whinning and blacks never taking responsibility for their actions.

I taught for 6 years in inner city schools in Virginia and always encouraged my students, most of them black, to visit some of the parks and historical sites in our area. they never did. they were more interested in video games, going to Busch Garden and watching TV.

cruddycat on January 30, 2010 at 3:18 pm

Black Americans who want a better life instead of a handout need to:
– Stop talking jive and speak plain English.
– Stop giving their children pseudo-African names, as having those ridiculous names on theri resumes and job applications only make it harder for them to get good jobs later in life.
– Stop calling themselves “African-Americans.” Only people who emigrate from another country are legitimate hyphenated Americans, if they so choose to refer to themselves that way. All others are Americans of (Polish, Italian, Asian, etc.) descent.
– With the exception of the Native Americans and the Colonists, no group has been here longer than black people. Consequently, there is no reason to maintain the black patois that marks so many of them as unintelligent. Give up the “bro” and “you know what I’m sayin'” stuff and speak English.
– Blacks are approximately 13% of the U.S. population, and are already vastly over-represented in television commercials, TV shows constantly promote miscegenation, and now we have morons complaining that so few of them visit the National Parks. Ridiculous!
– Many people thought that electing a (half) black President would end racial strife, but apparently enough is never enough for our population of professional victims. Affiirmative action has taken America’s blacks to the White House, and even though he is a totally incompetent Muslim sympathizer, they will vote for him again — just because he’s black. If that isn’t racism, I don’t know what is!

The point is — if you’re going to cry racism through all the years of your existence — you had damn well better know what it is, because black people can be racist too, and if you need an example, see Michelle Obama and her 50-person entourage vacationing around the world with the taxpayer’s funds, spewing her message of anti-white hatred. Proud of her? You shouldn’t be.

WPR on August 22, 2011 at 10:56 am