Lack of Blacks at National Parks Worries Ranger [View All]

Lack of Blacks at National Parks Worries Ranger
Only 1 Percent of Visitors to National Parks Are African Americans


America's national parks have a quiet power and an arresting beauty, but to Yosemite National Park Ranger Shelton Johnson, they also speak the truth.
PHOTO Park Ranger Shelton Johnson hopes more minorities will visit national parks
America's national parks have a quiet power and an arresting beauty. But to Yosemite Park Ranger...

"They tell the story of us as Americans," Johnson said. "They tell the story of ourselves as human beings, in this world, on this planet."

Johnson is one of the country's few African-American park rangers, and his is a rare face of color at Yosemite because less than 1 percent of visitors to the national park in California are black.

"There's not a shortage of African Americans at Disneyland or Disney World," Johnson said. "But when you visit these wild places, like Zion and Arches and Yellowstone, that's when you start seeing less cultural diversity."


http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/story?id=8341029&page=1