See Some World

29 Jan See Some World

It’s hard to imagine, but if I were to travel during the late 19th century, right up until the civil rights era, I would more than likely had to consult Victor Green’s The Negro Traveler’s Green Book for appropriate and safe accommodations… in the United States.

You could forget going abroad.

The author wrote of his hope’s for the future saying, “There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States.”

Wearing: J.Crew Cardi, Equipement Shirtdress, J.Crew boots, Furla Mini Candy Satchel

According to the New York Times, I am one of 17% of African Americans who take one or more international trips a year.

Seventeen. Percent.

Wow, huh?

Before I moved to New York, I just knew once I arrived in this big city that I would live the life that I dreamed about. I would imagine all of the interesting people I would interact with, the men I would date, the adventures I would have with my friends. Little did I know those adventures would include a couple different countries.

2013 in New York saw a young lady leave to go to Bermuda, Jamaica, London, Paris and then Barcelona to return a woman. The only time I had been out of the country without my parents previous to this year was a trip to Costa Rica in 2002 with People to People Student Ambassadors after my freshman year in high school.

There is something to be said about traveling, abroad, as a woman, a brown woman, that I can’t help but think makes my mother, her mother, and her mother proud. To know that I went off, by myself (well, kind of) and saw some world.

I hope my daughter, should I have one, is afforded the same opportunities.

Let’s up that statistic, shall we? And try our best to see some world, no matter our race (or gender, I see you fellas :-p). I can’t remember where I read it, but it’s truly a shame to spend all that money on luxury clothing, never having been to the country that birthed it.

Then you’ll really have a special connection with your clothes, right?

Photos by Stephanie R. from the Bronx in Barcelona