How many of you would like to travel the world and see the famous sights of other countries? Maybe take a tour and learn about the history of a faraway land? Most of us would jump at the opportunity, if we could afford it. What if vacations were pitched as some sort of work or learning experience and advertised through a non-profit that is largely funded by tax dollars? That is a Momentum Center Cultural Immersion experience.
If you wanted to take a trip to Egypt to learn about history, you might visit travel companies. Journeytoegypt.com is one such travel agency found through a Google search. Journey to Egypt offers all kinds of packages, with varying levels of extravagance. As a privileged white male American who wants to take a vacation, I was naturally drawn to the Luxury Journeys menu selection. I landed on a package titled “Egypt and the Nile on a Luxury Nile Cruise.” The itinerary is pretty interesting.
Coincidentally, the Momentum Center planned a trip to Egypt, but made it clear that it was not a vacation. It was a “cultural immersion” trip. Here is the Momentum Center Egypt Cultural Immersion literary.
While these two trips are remarkably similar, the Momentum Center appears to offer a little more than the luxury vacation. While both bring participants to the same sites, including a cruise down the Nile River, on day seven the Momentum Center trip immerses travelers in the great Egyptian cultural tradition of hot air balloon rides. Day eight goes above and beyond the luxury vacation, offering a horse carriage ride to the Edfu temple, and some sailing. Day ten truly immerses guests in Egyptian culture, with a sail boating experience.
(photos courtesy of journeytoegypt.com)
And that’s not all that is offered on the Momentum Center trip. While sailing, guests are delighted with themed dinner parties. At dinner on day eight, guests enjoy an Egyptian meal and a Galabya Party, with the option to dress in Egyptian face. Yes, literally culturally appropriate with costumes to fully pretend to be immersed in Egyptian culture. On day ten, participants voyeuristically watch those that are different, by attending a Nubian show and dinner.
If traveling across the world to different countries is a little too daunting, the Momentum Center travel agency also offers a Civil Rights Road Trip. This trip will take participants by bus to Alabama and Mississippi, where they learn about racial terror lynchings, horrific hatred, and racial injustice. While Momentum Center trips to other countries are not mission trips, the Civil Rights Road Trip does come with a mission: to commit to being an anti-racist and view history through a critical race theory lens.
Those not comfortable with the bus ride to the glamorous locations of Selma or Birmingham, Alabama, or cultural appropriation on a global scale, can observe the culture of those nearby that are very different. The “Across the Bridge” experience allows privileged white travelers of Grand Haven to “immerse” themselves in a different culture without actually having to go very far. The “Across the Bridge” cultural immersion trip joins groups from Grand Haven and Muskegon to learn about the vast differences in the communities.
Similar to the bus trip to Alabama and Mississippi, ‘Across the Bridge’ excursions are mostly about race with the added twist of economic privilege. On a recent excursion to experience the sights of people of color so close to home, Grand Haven participants went straight to the Muskegon county prosecutor’s office. They also attended a worship service, because the culture of attending Sunday services apparently does not exist in Grand Haven. On top of all that, they attended a high school football game. In what might be the biggest difference in “cultures” between Grand Haven and Muskegon, attending a Muskegon home football game allowed the Grand Haven do-gooders to experience a “culture” that values historical or old buildings that are a part of the community, as Hackley Stadium has been home to the Big Red for over a century.
In the return trip to bring the Muskegon contingent to Grand Haven, the locals from Grand Haven accentuated the more affluent aspects of the neighborhood. Ignoring the Grand Haven football games, they instead took Muskegon visitors golfing at the Spring Lake Country Club. Harkening back to the overseas trips, they made sure to take a boat ride, touring the expensive homes around Spring Lake. They ended their evenings in a posh lake house that the vast majority of the actual community could only dream of affording.
The Momentum Center describes these trips as “not vacations or service trips”. There is truth in the service trip part of that. A service trip involves getting involved with a local community and doing a good deed or service right along with the locals. In other words, immersion in the community and the culture. The Momentum Center trips are more like a vacation or a trip to an aquarium. The travelers stay safely distanced from the communities they visit to observe without experiencing the realities of the residents, and without all the pesky annoyances of a service trip including actually helping communities. They instead view cultures through the looking glass, and only participate in the most stereotypical of ways.
While privileged Grand Haven socialites travel to foreign countries to celebrate, “immerse” themselves, and honor the histories of nations such as Egypt and China, when traveling closer to home, they are sure to focus on the worst aspects of America’s past. Never mind the Marxist history of China and the tens of millions that died under Mao’s rule. Ignore how those amazing pyramids were built through decades of forced labor, and the human rights abuses still ongoing there. Foreign cultures are to be honored no matter what, while America is to be shamed. Likewise, the Across the Bridge excursions focus on socio-economic differences and enhance ideas of systemic racism and white privilege.
Under the guise of cultural immersion, Momentum Center members are taking luxury vacations and going on excursions that do nothing to soften societal divisions. Who do they think they are helping? This redefinition of language is not fooling everyone.