Every so often REI has garage sales, which are a pretty big ordeal apparently. My partner has a membership at REI and receives updates about when these garage sales take place. We showed up shortly before the store was scheduled to open, only to find a line that was at least 100 people deep. I was not surprised, but my partner was, and he lamented at “not knowing how to be a good consumer.” (which is a good thing, I think!)
Flashback to a little a month and a half ago, during the dreaded time of year known as Black Friday. The media routinely shows images of poor, working-class people – who are majority black and brown – engaging in this crazed shopping, hurting others during stampedes, and getting into fist fights over the last toy or game or television or whatever is a hot commodity. People of color and people without means are depicted as ignorant and foolish, driven by a desire to spend, even when their resources are already limited. I have heard more comments than I’d care to recount about folks who choose to spend their money on brand name clothing, shoes and jewelry, even when they’re barely scraping by.
I have struggled – and still struggle – to various degrees with the desire to spend and buy things that are pretty and will make me feel good, however fleeting those feelings may be. I understand what it’s like to grow up wanting things my parents couldn’t afford to buy me as a kid. We were by no means living in poverty; I was privileged to live in a home that we could call our own and to have food on the table, thanks to the sacrifice my parents made for my siblings and I. But we absolutely lived paycheck to paycheck. My parents are still living paycheck to paycheck, and it pains me that I can’t help them more financially because of car and student loans I need to pay off. The promise of deep discounts are deeply alluring to those accustomed to wanting and hoping that one day they’ll be able to afford x, y or z.
Flash forward to REI – these folks don’t have to participate in Black Friday because they’re financially stable enough to avoid it – and they’re not depicted as crazed consumers who will stand in line for hours to get a deal. I’m not saying that all of the folks shopping at REI are wealthy and don’t worry about money (my partner and I are there, after all), but it’s a completely different lived reality. People who shop at places like REI on non-sale days without caring about the price tag and people who look down on the frenzied Black Friday shoppers almost exist in an alternate dimension. $300 tundra parka? Sure, why not! $85 yoga pants? Hell yeah! $200 hiking boots? Gimme! $7,000 vacation to Hawaii? Let’s go!
I get really frustrated by how the ability to enjoy the beauty that is Mother Earth has become so elitist and available to only a small portion of the population. This planet belongs to no one and everyone, yet that doesn’t feel true for many folks. Colonization and the commodification of land ruined our relationship to the land and to each other (among many, many other things) and created a wound whose profundity escapes us. Blood was spilled on the land in order to claim ownership and profit off of it, at the deadly expense of native and enslaved peoples. But also at the expense of future generations, not only with respect to the land, but also with respect to harmful, deadly, and colonized perceptions of other human beings.
The POC count I do when we go to parks and forests is still low – I can count the number of people of color I’ve seen on two hands. And that’s a problem. Until folks stop pointing fingers (whether it’s about who’s going to state parks, who’s getting a college education, who’s unemployed) and start thinking about the structural problems leading to those particular outcomes, nothing will change.
Ultimately, after checking price tags and walking away from many many things, we left with shoelaces, a carabiner, socks, a fleece jacket, and an inflatable sleeping bag for our next camping trip. Here’s to starry nights, campfires, and decolonizing our perceptions of health, wellness, Mother Earth, ourselves, and each other.
