Did you know that American Airlines has its own black people travel web site? Neither did I. But they do! Black Atlas is the premier black people travel web site, and it is unmistakably an American Airlines joint. Admittedly, it’s the only one I know, so it could be said that my labeling it “premier” is done out of utter ignorance on my part. In fact, just to save you the trouble, I’ll say it: I have no idea if there are any other airlines that offer a “Passport to the Black Experience” or the equivalent, so I’m completely talking out my ass. Get used to it, the rest of this piece is just more ass-talk.
I do need to point something out. This American says he’s used to driving on the left side of the road in the U.S. Clearly a typo. But if this were Woman Atlas, I expect it would attract “women drivers” comments.
I had no idea that black people needed or wanted their own travel site. I’ll pass over the obvious jokes like “do they get their own section on the plane? In the back?” and “is the in-flight snack collard greens cooked by a heavyset, middle-aged black lady?” (You see what I did there? I said them by “not” saying them. That’s called “praeteritio”! Rhetorical devices are fun!) But I will ask some marginally less stupid questions. Do black people want their own travel site? I have no idea. Maybe this is freakin’ great for American Airlines, black travelers and the black community as a whole. I don’t know. I assume they aren’t against it. I don’t see any demographic objecting too strongly to having their own travel site. But I do have to ask: are Asians allowed to use this “Passport to the Black Experience”? Latinos? Jews? Indians? White people? What about Canadians? Can Canadians use this passport to the black experience?
For me, it also brings up the age-old question (if, you define “age-old” as “like since the 1960’s, man”) of: what are the differences between catering, pandering, and exploiting? That’s why I’m leery of things like this—they run the risk of falling into, if not stereotypes per se, then into all-too-clichéd thinking. “Black Atlas” isn’t going to serve only friend chicken, obviously. And, if they existed, “Jew Atlas” wouldn’t nickel-and-dime your for everything from seat-belts to magazine, nor would “AARP Atlas” cruise at a measly 240 miles per hour with only the left wing lights blinking. That’s not what I’m talking about.
(You just know that if Black Atlas had its own planes, the FAA would order them to put two-fifths more people on the plane. How do you like your Fourteenth Amendment facial, antebellum south?)
What I’m talking about is that focusing on a specific demographic means you need to consider the desires of people across that demographic. If you’re selling to middle-class families, you have to sell to all races of middle-class families. If you’re selling to black people, then you have to sell to all social and economic strata of black people. And that makes it easy to start pandering; that’s when Latino Atlas visits only Catholic churches in Jerusalem and AARP Atlas skips all locales that aren’t 100% wheelchair accessible. Everybody I know who left their college’s version of “The [insert minority] Students’ Organization” (whether the minority was based on race, gender, or sexuality) left it at least in part because they felt the people in the group I’m not saying that this is what’s happened. Sure, there are plenty of “obvious” destinations on Black Atlas’s list: Chicago, Philly, St. Louis, New Orleans, etc., places that have large black populations or big roles in black history. But there some far less predictable destinations, too. Milan, Paris, Seattle…
…and Toronto. I guess Canadians are welcome!
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