Taking a Vacation From White People

In Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, women of color (non-white women) are taking a vacation from white people. This vacation consists of yoga, vegan food, and political education seminars. Though it seems that women of other races would be welcome at this retreat, it seems to focus on black women specifically. One clip showed these women describing their blackness as "bold" and "uninhibited".

I'm all for the idea of taking a break from life to find community with others like yourself, doing yoga, and eating (good) vegan food. However, suggesting that one needs a vacation from a certain race is one of the products of today's poor race relations. Interestingly enough, this "healing retreat" uses racism to combat racism and can't help but wonder how an Asian, Hispanic, or mixed woman would be treated at one of these retreats or if she would feel just as alienated at these retreats as she did around white people.

The attendees of these retreats want to escape the "passive-aggressiveness" and "microaggressions" that American black women face. They have been questioned about their hair, lifestyle, and other aspects of their lives. While it's one thing to get together and commiserate about these experiences, it's another to shun other races entirely due to these experiences. By no means am I an expert on race relations, but they are getting worse in America due to the idea that segregation is somehow "empowering".

One of the unintended consequences of these retreats would be the avoidance of black women due to ideas like these. While I don't see retreats like these becoming commonplace, I think that, if they do, incidents of racism against black women and women of other races will increase. On some level, I do sympathize with these women with regard to their isolation, but I think this is the wrong way to go about sharing these experiences.

Sources:
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/mb5gea/what-its-like-to-take-a-vacation-away-from-white-people