An adventure tour company in Alaska offers packages exclusively for “people of color” so that they can run on trails without being with white people.
This summer, an Alaska company out of Cordova called Run Alaska Trails hosted a multi-faceted trail running and adventure tour that was for BIPOCS only — that’s “Black, Indigenous, People of Color” in the parlance of the new American apartheid movement.
They ran trails on the Kenai Peninsula and they went whale watching as a group that was relieved of the burden of having white participants.
One woman who signed up for the run wrote about her experience in The Seattle Times.
“Before this trip, I had participated in various ‘outdoor adventure’ activities — like whitewater rafting, kayaking and hiking in the mountains. But I’ve often been the only person of color in these situations, or one of only a few. I’m half Filipina and half white, and I’m aware that I sometimes blend into all-white spaces, and I sometimes stick out,” wrote Allison Torres Burtka in a special to The Seattle Times.
In Outside Magazine, Burtka also described the exhilarating experience of white exclusion: “In my mind, Alaska was never a place where Black people go. It was like this beautiful opportunity to give us all permission to go someplace that we didn’t think was for us,” the trip’s organizer was quoted as saying.
It is happening on college campuses across America, where institutions are creating black-only spaces — dorms and clubs being the most well-known. At Western Washington University south of Seattle, there is segregated housing just for blacks. That follows the footsteps of Harvard, New York University, the University of Colorado, Stanford, and Cornell, which have all created black-only housing.
University of North Carolina at Asheville advertised a “BIPOC Gardening Day” as a part of “Welcome Week” at the campus. The office of the mayor of Cambridge, Mass. posted an eight-page explanation of “Why People of Color Need Spaces Without White People.”
Jay McDonald, an Alaska-born activist who has a multi-race family, called the Alaska Human Rights Commission to discuss whether companies operating in Alaska can exclude whites from events in Alaska.
The Commission enforces the Alaska Human Rights statute which makes it unlawful to discriminate: in employment, places of public accommodation, housing, financing and credit, and practices by the State. The mission statement is simple: “To eliminate and prevent discrimination for all Alaskans.”
In Alaska it is illegal to discriminate in:
- Employment
- Places of Public Accommodation
- Sale or Rental of Real Property
- Financing and Credit
- Practices by the State or its Political Subdivisions
Because of:
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- Sex
- National Origin
- Physical or Mental Disability
And in some instances because of:
- Age
- Marital Status
- Changes in Marital Status
- Pregnancy
- Parenthood
- Sexual Orientation / Gender Identity or “expression”
Can a tour company like Run Alaska Trails exclude participants and refuse the bookings of white people based on color?
When McDonald called the Human Rights Commission, the person responding to his complaint seemed to think it is fine to segregate for BIPOC, because the ad for the event says “people of color.”
“White is a color,” the Human Rights Commission employee responded to McDonald, adding that she herself did not feel excluded by the BIPOC promotion. She told McDonald that she didn’t understand what the concern is.
The concern for some people is that private companies are now re-segregating America.
“So the idea of running and adventuring in Alaska with a group that was all people of color was enticing. If any of us got stares, our travel companions might be getting them, too — or at least they’d understand what it felt like,” Burtka wrote. It was pretty clear that white is not a color.
“THE PEOPLE IN my group have several ethnic backgrounds — Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous and biracial. We are all people of color, but we don’t have the same experiences navigating through the world,” she wrote.
“Out on the trails, the other people around were almost all white. I wondered what they thought of us, because groups as diverse as ours probably aren’t running through the woods in Alaska very often. Most of them returned our friendly waves and greetings,” the writer said.
The feature on the glories and benefits of race-based trail running is behind a paywall at the Seattle Times. But the article it makes it clear that keeping whites out of a group is a big benefit to the participants.
McDonald has another perspective: It is illegal, and the answer from the Human Rights Commission is inadequate.
“They are doing it in Chugach National Forest and their business is permitted inside the federal forest. They are violating Title 6 as well as the 14th Amendment,” McDonald said.
On the company’s own web page, it acknowledges it is an equal opportunity provider, but apparently that has a new definition.
Let them have their racist groups. I’m white and I wouldn’t pay a dime to go on this tour. These people have been taught and indoctrinated on the fact that because they are of color, they are victims and marginalized. $4,600 seems a bit high for trail running, so I imagine the owner is probably profiting nicely from this.
I agree with you. That tour company should be ashamed of theirselves encouraging victim mentality among people of color………I wonder how much business they will have ? People gone crazy !!
This seems very much racially motivated and further divides us as people ! How would they react if an all white group were formed to keep BIPOC out ?
That would be racist…..but this isn’t???
What if the anchorage assembly funded it like the BIPOC center we paid for last year?
“In my mind, Alaska was never a place where Black people go. It was like this beautiful opportunity to give us all permission to go someplace that we didn’t think was for us,” the trip’s organizer was quoted as saying.”
This is the most idiotic statement and a bold faced lie. IF you want to be self-limiting, fine. If you are uncomfortable encountering people of other backgrounds, that’s a YOU problem. This attitude denigrates people to the “Oliver Twist; Please sir can I have some more..” status in the organizers world view, instead of individuals able to achieve anything they set out to do.
Makes one wonder what shallow person signs up for a trip like that.
Ship capsizes, bear attack? Life flight needed? Would a would be “ white rescuer be labeled racist for not rendering aid?
Thumbs Up!!!
More race baiting .. Sorry not interested in your bs. Take your special tours and shove it.
Most Alaskans do not care about any of this. Because it’s part of this woke agenda. Let’s be like Arkansas and embrace tossing that garbage out and never letting it get a foot hold ever again.
Any company basically playing the race bait game will go broke.
I’m my opinion, THEY are the ones with the problems. Stop creating more race issues by doing this. If people of color wanted to go hiking and go on tours THEY GO.
Unless of course you are speaking of the gender confused, which I can see wanting all these special tours.
They are the only ones that pull this nonsense.. no one else.
See in Liberal run towns, these trolls believe everyone else needs to deal with their “choices”.
Personally, they can’t deal with being around normal people and think everyone is out to attack and make fun of them. So they want special treatment.
Do not give in to this.
Take your moronic ideas back to Seattle… Where their mental defectives think they are in charge! Alaska wants no part of this!
For someone not interested you had a lot to say
I don’t know who Jay spoke with but he should file a complaint. An employee answering the phone is deep state and may not speak for the commission.
Judy, what is the definition of deep state?
Several years ago, Black University Students demanded student housing buildings for Blacks only. Self-segregation. KKK must have gotten a kick out of that… Now, segregated tours. Black cities/states next???
Divide and Conquer!
Does this company clear the trail before the group starts running-hiking-eating-drinking-camping before they embark on their otherworldly utopian adventure?
What does one do with a biracial couple, family or friends group.
Divide and conquer!
Where’s the AG and Kendal? The life sucking lawyers are only interested in screwing this state. If it’s illegal then stop it or go to jail. If a bank was robbed they law would be after the culprit.
So much to unpack here 😂. Good grief. So, I run trails. A lot. Does that mean I am prohibited from the trails the bipod xyz runners might be running while they are running them? And, I am darker complected, and darker haired than my half Inupiat cousin who picked up his dad’s Swedish and French genetics. I actually can easily pass as a ‘person of color’ albeit I am mostly of European blend. Does that count me in? It is so beyond ludicrous. Will they have a measure of melanin content, genetic testing, color swatches? Technically even our fairest members of the one and only human race are a ‘color’. We are all ‘persons of color’ all of this malarkey is cultic and borders on mental illness.
More than a half century of desegregation money spent to make everyone “feel” equal and now private companies and taxpayer funded universities spending more money AND making money on segregating against Those dirty “white people”.
The Democrats have achieved a U-turn and headed to a place we were a hundred years ago.
Reminiscent of the Jew hating that went on during the Holocaust by the elite college students across the country we are witnessing today.
Racism is alive and well in America.
Provided the target is white.
It’s never ended. Mostly whites being racist and people of color getting sick and tired of it.
Get a grip Greg. The vast majority of “white” people just don’t care what color a person’s skin is or their ethnic background. And I believe the situation continues to improve. Those who race bait are the ones seeking to divide and perpetuate the evil that is racism. Your comment tells me it is you who have a racism issue.
Yep. I think natives have been given a raw deal in this country. Call me racist. I do not care
Natives have been given a raw deal in every country since the history of people moving about. Stronger forces move in, overwhelm the natives, occupy the land.
Has been happening since the caveman days.
.
And, pretending that somehow the US is worse than any other nation that has ever existed is disingenuous at best. Wokism at worst.
Per 1960s that was kind of true albeit it was also true that mostly white people put an end to it. But since then this hate of whites has been growing ever larger and is as equally mindless as as any bigotry.
The mindless BLM types think it’s appropriate to demonstrate their hate against whites in the form of payback for wrongs done to them decades ago. And as will all really stupid ideas, it will fix nothing and exacerbate the problem to the point of exploding.
Sounds like what goes around comes around…
Gotta love racism and racists. Right? Oh, I forgot, only white people can be racists.
All for it. Freedom of Association, or in my case freedom from association. Seems like a stunt though I mean what’s the market look like for people who are willing to pay 4000 bucks to take a run/kayak somewhere and also don’t want to do it with white people? First world problems lol.
There’s big $$$ in pandering to snowflakes.
The Alaska State Human Rights Commission, ASCHR, today exists as an organization defending preferential treatment of individuals they arbitrarily determine are worthy of their protection. ASCHR promotes a new version of apartheid-style racism. The Commission has a troubled past and an overall record which supports defunding the agency.
Freedom of Association is enshrined in the Constitution. If black folks feel that they want to be with only black folks, more power to them. If they need to limit their exposure to Alaskans, who mostly could not give one fat rat’s backside what color or race or creed anyone else might be, then they are missing out on opportunities galore, but that is entirely their choice. The people perpetuating this are making money off of it. That alone should give anyone pause, but apparently that’s where these folks want to spend their cash. Not really my concern.
It’s not like they’re baking cakes or anything, rieeeeet?
Scott Adams got cancelled for saying exactly what the commenters on this article are saying. However, he was absolutely 100% correct.
If blacks do not want white people around, fine by me. I will leave them to their own. Insisting that whites get included is like the idiots that insisted that girls should be allowed to join the Boy Scouts.
.
On the other hand, if blacks want to join this white person for a hike, I am more than willing to trudge out with them. Skin color does not matter, the activity does.
We all taste the same to bears. Let the dinner bells ring.
I would normally hike with people of color, but they can run faster than me.
Bears don’t judge people by the color of their skin, but by the content of their body fat.
Comme ci, comme ca. Pardonez vous s’il vous plait, sans le cedille. Merci.
Let’s see how far it get when the white people (BIPOW) hold their only function and exclude all other races.
I guess these people never heard Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speech. This is what is missing in our society today. Schools aren’t teaching anything of value other than what the unions want taught. I really feel sorry for the mixed race families.
I hope they go broke. Talk about racist BS.
Interestingly, every face shown on their website is white…even at their “Meet Our Guides” page..Sounds like false advertising to me..🤷♂️ To paraphrase Forrest Gump, “Racism is what racism does”
Stay off the Struggle Bus as long as you can.
I just saw a youtube ad from the Alaska Human rights commission offering their services to “protected classes” I guess here in Alaska the state supports and pays for racial discrimination. Shame on Governor Mike for not stopping this
What was the phenotype of the pilot of the whale-watching boat? Or the pilot of the jet they flew to Alaska on? I’ll give credit to the ingenuity of the business people promoting such a service. It looks like they found a niche….. that is people stupid enough to pay $4600 to run on trails. Its a joke, the reality is that these people are paying the tall price for a taste of what its like to be racist snobs.
The Commission may not be enforcing the statute all the way. A friend couldn’t find a rental in Anchorage because she wasn’t Native.
Document please, and elaborate – IF true, that is prosecutable illegal discrimination.
Maybe, kind of like a white boy from the Valley trying to get a job at Red Dog…yeah right.
Good idea. Unfortunately, if several applications were rejected due to her race, or lack thereof, it appeared that the Fair Housing Act does not apply to Alaska, let alone any state statute.
Many of the people who sign up for this kayak/trail run package will fly up from the United States. Will Alaska Airlines create a special “People of Color” section on the airplane? In the back? Perhaps the management of the Anchorage Airport should create special bathrooms for these folks. Rosa Parks, a genuine American hero, must be turning over in her grave. Hopefully this stunt fizzles out quickly.
So(?!?!) … Pursuing this ‘ridiculous’ and un-American approach, at what point in time do White Tax Payers demand that his/her tax dollars be allocated for White Only initiatives? Given the trajectory of this issue, we might want to start thinking about how to answer that basic question. OR(!!!), better yet, why don’t we simply learn how to be productive and loyal Americans.
MAYBE(?), it would benefit all of us to recite this daily:
… I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,
… And to the Republic for which it stands,
… One Nation under God, indivisible,
… With liberty and justice for all.
Followed by signing:
… Oh, say! can you see by the dawn’s early light
… What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming;
… Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
… O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
… And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
… Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there:
… Oh, say! does that star-spangled banner yet wave
… O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
My Christian faith prohibits exalting graven images (including cloth symbols). I would recite the following.
I reaffirm my allegiance to the republic of the United States of America,
and to the constitution from which it was conceived,
one nation, under the one true god, Yahweh, in the name of His son, Yeshuah,
with liberty and justice for all its citizens.
I realize based in Cordova is different than operating there, but…
Last time I was in Cordova or the Kenai the number of “people of color” were in very short supply.
How are these snowflakes gonna handle it when the majority of people they encounter here are those dreaded white people?
If they want a place with almost no white people, try London or Malmo Sweden.
If the weather is good when they are there I imagine they will have the experience they signed up for. Running in beautiful scenery enjoying Salmon Jam with the locals, catching fish and kayaking in Orca Inlet. Personally I do not understand exclusive groups. I see they have women only groups and fat people trips. Maybe Jay should go to the Human Rights Commision and complain about that.
If a person is half white, half something else they qualify, it seems, as non-white. What’s the percentage breakpoint? Half? One quarter? An eighth? Back in Jim Crow days racist white Democrats in the south instituted the One Drop policy…if you had ANY black blood you were black in their eyes and treated as such. They were soundly castigated, and rightly so, for this blatantly racist behavior but now the minorities are instituting their own racist policies that are all aimed at white people. So how white do you need to be before you’re considered an evil colonizer and all around awful person no colored person wants to consort with? One drop? And if a half black can identify as black (think Obama) can’t the rest of us self identify as one of any race that shows up somewhere in the family tree? Remember, Obama was just as white as he was black.
In my tribe, the Choctaw, you need to be at least 1/8 so the bar is pretty low.
For Nazis, it was 1/8th or less Jewish.
Neighbor gave up guiding for REI…not because of REI but because the danger posed by tourists that didn’t obey simple trail rules. Last straw was a group from Marin that were not only obnoxious but just asking for bear trouble. I hate to spoil the purity of the BIPOC tours but reality and nature are neither “moral” or discerning of intersectionality. The top of the food chain is not occupied by societal victims.
I guess this company doesn’t count all our native neighbors. Instead they happily reinforce a fictitious stereotype.
It is interesting that you can not figure out from their website, where this outfit is actually located. Reminds me of those businesses, where owner/operators come up in the summer, do their thing and go back to the lower 48 when the first snowflake flies. Met some of those at Kennicott Mine, telling tourist from Wisconsin that they are real Alaskans……
Please define the term, “real Alaskan.”
Wayne isn’t that the crux of the argument here?
Do you see a person who comes to Alaska for about 4 months in the summer, runs their business, then goes back to the lower 48 for the remaining 8 months out of the year as an “Alaskan”?
The incident I alluded to above was a young lady, portraying herself as “A Real Alaskan”, who gave a presentation of the tourist tour business she was a part of. When she was asked what it was like in the winter, she stated that no one lives here in the winter and we apparently all go down to the lower 48.
In my opinion you should not call yourself a “Alaskan” unless you have spent a couple of winters here and live here the majority of the time. In my view the people, who use “I am a real Alaskan” are either politicians or pretenders, as those of us who actually live here don’t need to brag or emphasize that fact.
To me it always sounds like: “Oh look a REAL bear and REAL moose oh and there a REAL Alaskan” We are not some tourist exhibit!
I commend you for making an attempt to answer my question. Your answer, “spending a couple of winters and living a majority of the time,” is certainly not definitive. Spending two winters in Deadhorse Camp is far different than doing so in Ketchikan. Furthermore, what does “majority of the time” even mean?
I acknowledge the good intentions shown in your comment. However, my questions are to show you what a slippery slope you are stepping onto. A person’s status should be defined only by their character and intentions; both of which are difficult to discern. A person arriving in Alaska for the first time 5-minutes ago, intending to remain for life while working hard and contributing positively to the well-being of all, is a far better Alaskan than any life-long loafers seeking only free stuff.
Some people prefer to judge others not upon the content of their character, but upon the color of their skin…those people are referred to as racists.
If you’re a chained up dog, and every person that walks by you throws a rock at you, and they were white, you tend to be mad at all whites.
Interesting that you think of people of color as chained up dogs, that you think it’s only “whites” throwing the rocks, and that somehow justifies being “mad at all whites”. Seems rather racist and completely flies in the face of the historical record to me.
Not surprising at all to me.
GF is a leftist through and through. He pretends to be “conservative” sometimes he admits he is a “moderate” but his comments are pure collectivist. In other words, leftist.
.
And, leftists are racist to the core. They divide based on physical attributes, but pretend they are “uniting” because they promote the minority over the majority, instead of just treating everyone equally.
.
The analogy is absolutely spot on for a leftist. They believe that someone is oppressed simply because of their outward appearance, without actually checking to see if they feel oppressed. Worse, yet, they take action and push for changes without even checking with the people they are trying to “help.”
As that dog, would you even be mad at the white person that freed you from the chains, fed you and nursed you back to health?
So it’s OK to throw rocks at chained dogs, as long as the rocks are not white?
I think the moral of your story, to the extent that it even has one, is drowned out by your victimhood complex.
Greg, as they say “that dog don’t hunt”! If you throw rocks at a dog, the dog is aggressive towards people, not the color of said people.
Racism is a way for small-minded people to feel superior to others, while at the same time blaming all their issues on this external force. Succeeding despite your circumstances is the human condition and not relegated to a certain group.
When I look at the native corporations and their millions of dollars in business and income, special treatment under the law, it is difficult to reconcile your hatred of white people.
One of the things I have enjoyed the most about our state is our lack of interest in a person’s color. Like the old west, where a person was only judged by their character. The only reason that a person of color might get a surprised look on a wilderness trail is that we rarely see it. But if they want to pay some profiteers for an exclusive tour, then at least they will realize afterwards that our state is not made up of redneck crackers and that we are open for everyone to enjoy.
You haven’t ventured off the road system much have you?
Whether or not Americans want to hear this America is the least racist nation in the world comparing it to other nations still living by a racial, class, and family prejudices.
Americans don’t read enough neither do these leftist and Bipoc crowd.
These type of negative and exclusive crowd are more likely working their crowd and others up toward to value exclusivity and prejudice, so one day Americans will one day hunt down and go after Jewish descent and Christians as we are seeing happening across Europe and Russia Jews being hunted down like its 1934 all over again
Are they insinuating whites, Hispanics, natives, Asians etc. should do the same?
Comments are closed.