In 2023, 37.8 million people visited Seattle and King County. Between January and July 2023, 38.1 million trips were made to Washington. What kind of people are visiting the Evergreen State and its cities? Who feels that they can do so safely? What draws them to the region?
These are the questions husband and wife traveling duo Anthony and Marlie Love have set out to answer with their vlog “Traveling While Black.”
The series, which has garnered 465,791 views on their YouTube channel in the past five years, focuses on whether a city, landmark, hiking trail or beach within Washington is a safe and enjoyable place to visit, not only for themselves as Black people but also for their predominantly BIPOC following of 90,800 across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The Loves also have their own blog that includes posts about each of these locations and interactive maps of local Black-owned businesses that anyone could try out.
The places the show has given the highest rating include Long Beach, the San Juan Islands, the Summit at Snoqualmie and Walla Walla. Their videos on Forks, Yakima Valley and Spokane are their most viewed.
The commentary that both Anthony and Marlie Love provide is something that isn’t usually found in a typical Washington tourist pamphlet. Their series evaluates whether the commute was difficult or easy, how much fun they had and how comfortable they felt in their experience.
“Traveling While Black” began in 2019, shortly after the couple moved to Seattle from Missouri, when they started exploring the state and realized they weren’t seeing many Black people in other Washington cities.
Prior to living in Seattle, the couple viewed the city as progressive and welcoming, while assuming that the rest of the state was an exact replica of the city. They now understand that Washington is no different from the rest of the country.
Anthony Love said why people appreciate their vlog so much is that it offers many people who haven’t ventured far outside Seattle, the chance to become more familiar with the beauty of these different areas within Washington.
“Being Black in America is totally different, but we still want to see things, be comfortable and know where we want to spend our money. It’s important that we aren’t feeling nervous as we explore these different places,” Marlie Love said.
“Growing up, going to places and still feeling really uncomfortable or experiencing just straight racism,” she said, “it’s like, ‘Man, I don’t want to have to deal with that anymore. I don’t want to have to continue to feel that pain and awkwardness.’ That really affects you mentally.”
Anthony Love added that visiting an inhospitable place where you’re the only person of color can deter someone from traveling again.
The Loves see “Traveling While Black” as a modern version of “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” a 20th-century traveling guide that provided Black people with a list of hotels, restaurants, pubs and rest stops that they might feel safe at. It was published in 1936 by Victor H. Green and had 21 editions. Initially, the guide only included states on the East Coast and in the South, but by 1949, Washington was added.
According to the “Green Book,” the only two cities in Washington with businesses that were welcoming to Black and BIPOC travelers were Everett — although the book only listed three hotels — and Seattle, where most were in the Central District and Chinatown-International District.
While the “Green Book” was created almost a 100 years ago, the existence of “Traveling While Black” demonstrates the need for present-day resources attuned to people of color. The series is reflective of a known fact: Washington is very white. While a 2019 University of Washington study shows that Seattle’s population has grown more racially diverse in the last 20 years, the same can’t be said for Washington, where the Black population makes up 4.6% of the state’s total population, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. Additionally, while sundown towns are thought to be synonymous solely with the south, Washington had a couple of its own.
The Tri-Cities, specifically Kennewick and Richland, prohibited any Black and Hispanic person from residing within the area well into the 1970s, a fact Anthony and Marlie Love learned while doing research for their episodes about the area. The Loves said that, although they had a good time in the Tri-Cities, knowing the cities’ role in excluding communities of color still lingered in their hearts and minds; the couple ultimately gave the Tri-Cities three out of five stars. At the time, they were working with the Tri-Cities Bureau and were asked by the organization about the reason behind the low rating.
“We said, ‘This is a great opportunity to have a discussion with your community to talk about these things. There’s more things to be done.’ [The Tri-Cities Bureau] were real gracious … [but] they didn’t take us up on that offer to have that dialogue,” Anthony Love said. “We felt really great about how we were able to [acknowledge the past] because we were truthful and saying these people living here today want to be recognized and they treated us nice but here’s this ugly history. Those wounds are still kind of raw [for the] Black and Latino community.”
The Loves decided to include a rating scale on their show to highlight what it’s like to move through these places as a Black person. The series’ five-star scale is also determined by what they call the “Black Person Comfort Meter,” which considers how visible Black people and communities are in the area, how friendly residents are to Black folks and how welcoming the environment feels for BIPOC.
One of “Traveling While Black’s” most popular episodes, with over 12,000 views, documents the couple’s trip to Forks. The Loves recount it as an overall negative trip where they experienced racism. From receiving dirty looks to being ignored while trying to order at a restaurant, the creators’ overall cold exchange with residents solidified the “Twilight” town’s score of one out of five on their comfort meter.
The Loves both say their blog’s ratings open the door for discussions to take place. Within the comment sections of videos, people of color have shared their own experiences and offered advice to others.
“Before George Floyd [died] in 2020, there weren’t a lot of resources, and then we were looking for those resources. We couldn’t find it,” Anthony Love said. “So we thought that those resources were important. It was important to us; other folks we talked to said it’s important too and we said, ‘Okay, let’s make it a resource.’
“After [the murder of] George Floyd, we saw more resources but still, there’s not enough,” he continued. “There can never be enough, just because it’s kind of ingrained to us in our history [and in] this country. Hate [and] ignorance take generations to instill. So, it’s going to take generations to unravel. Knowing that some places you go, those folks who might be a couple steps behind in getting where we need to be, for Black people, that’s a life or death concern.”
Creating this kind of resource still has challenges. Marlie Love explained that besides time being an obstacle, it also has been difficult to connect with any Black people and communities when stepping foot into a new area. It isn’t until an episode gets posted that their comment section is then flooded with a variety of recommendations from their audience members.
Anthony and Marlie Love are looking to expand “Traveling While Black” to include BIPOC content creators who live within the cities and regions the Loves are interested in visiting.
“Traveling throughout Washington, I realized that these small towns do have little things to offer. For example, I never expected this [strong] wine culture in Walla Walla,” Marlie Love said.
“The big cities are great, but there are some hidden gems in these areas that you really don’t have to spend a whole bunch of money or travel across the sea and you really can just drive there and have a great experience.”
Find out more about Anthony and Marlie Love and “Traveling While Black” at travelingwhileblackseattle.com.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article mis-stated which organization Anthony and Marlie Love worked with in the Tri-Cities. The organization was the Tri-Cities Bureau. The newspaper regrets the error.
Marian Mohamed is the associate editor of Real Change. She oversees our weekly features. Contact her at [email protected].
Read more of the April 17–23, 2024 issue.